A Pirate's Life for Me
by goldensomething
Summary: Book 3 of our One Piece Universe, this story focuses on Raion, the son of Luffy and Nami, several years after the ending of the second book, Dragon Tamer. Raion, known around the world as the Dark Prince, is now Captain of his own ship. Evelyn is a noble lady whose dream has always been to be a pirate, but she never imagined she'd find herself on the ship of the Pirate King's son.
1. Chapter 1

***** DISCLAIMER, PLEASE READ- A Pirate's Life for Me is the third (kinda fourth) published story in this One Piece Universe that I and Jesachi, u/711995/Jesachi, have written together. Many people really enjoyed the first one, The Way of the Sword and Rose, but Jesachi and I have moved on to other writing in our lives, and we don't think we're ever going to go back and edit these. Therefore, this is a WARNING that this story is completely UN-EDITED and also written as a roleplay between myself and Jesachi, so the point of view switches between the two main characters every now and then. If this bothers you, don't read it :) We are only publishing these because we thought our fans might want to see the direction we took with our One Piece Universe. I hope you enjoy! Raion and Eevee are an amazing couple, and Luffy's entire crew makes an appearance eventually :)**********

Tonight was the night.

Burbank Evelyn, youngest member of the esteemed Burbank Family of Botanist Doctors, rushed frantically from one side of her lavish bedroom to the other, grabbing stray stockings and shifts as she went. Sitting on the extravagantly carved bed in the center of the room was an open suitcase, already stuffed full of clothing, sealed bottles, and medical equipment.

"Miss Evelyn, do not forget your tonic before bed," a faint, airy voice called from outside of her closed door. Evelyn froze, eyes wide with concern that she'd be caught in the act, clutching a pair of tights to her chest.

"I won't, Jenny. Have a good night," Evelyn called back to her maid, proud of how well she managed to keep her voice even.

"Good night then, Miss Evelyn," Jenny called back, and Evelyn could hear her voice receding as she headed towards her parent's wing of the manor.

Letting out a breath of relief, Evelyn hurried over to the suitcase, shoved the last of her things that she could fit into it, then zippered the thing closed. It was bursting at the seems, and a few scraps of lace were poking out from the sides, but it would do.

She rounded on the full-length mirror and studied herself hurriedly, smoothing out her pale lavender dress and adjusting her wide-brimmed hat that would help conceal her face. The dress matched the color of her eyes, and the hat was a simple, if well made, straw hat, and she'd chosen it deliberately for its meaning. It sat on top of her unfettered auburn hair, hair that fell down to her waist. Lifting her skirts, she eyed her feet critically. Instead of her normal slippers or heeled shoes, she wore a pair of soft leather boots that wrapped their way up her slender calves to her knees. She never wore boots under her dresses, but she knew her normal shoes were impractical for the mission she set out for tonight.

The mission to become a pirate, at last.

Evelyn suppressed a little grin of excitement, and ducked away from the mirror, hurrying over to the side of the suitcase. She pulled out a folded stack of papers, and hurried shifted through them until she settled on just one.

The Dark Prince, Monkey D. Raion: Wanted for 310 million beri.

His slashing gray eyes under his mop of wild black hair stared up at her above a wicked grin. At one point in her life, she'd wanted to marry this man. He was the son of the Pirate King, after all, and she dearly loved pirates. In fact, she'd told a young boy that once...and then found out years later that she'd informed the _actual_ son of the pirate king of her intent to marry him...and have children with him, if she wasn't mistaken.

She'd met him when they'd both been 12 or 13, so young...they'd been playmates for a whole summer, and he'd taught her to play the only piano piece she knew. But then he'd vanished, and she'd never seen him again. Three years later, she'd discovered his identity, when he'd first come out into the pirate world.

By breaking into the world's most impenetrable prison, Impel Down, with his father and kinfolk.

Evelyn sighed, and folded the posters back up. She'd been so mortified when she'd discovered what she'd revealed to his very face. How he must have laughed at her...or thought her odd, surely. Her cheeks burned a little even know, thinking back. However, with age she'd gained maturity, and realized her goal of becoming a pirate was good enough for her. Of course, she'd want to be a pirate on _his_ crew, and only _his_ crew.

Which brought her to tonight. She'd learned, through a dear friend, that the Dark Prince was going to be in Sabaody tonight, and moreover, he was going to be drinking and performing at Gabbi's Bar!

The bar was located in the more rogue groves of Sabaody, but Evelyn had become friends with the owner of the bar from her many ventures out into the outlaw districts during the day. This would be her first time there at night, when most of the outlaws and pirates were about, and her insides were quivering a little at the thought. She couldn't decide, though, if it was nerves, or excitement.

She glanced at the clock, and murmured, "time to go..."

Scooping up her suitcase, Evelyn hurried to the back of her room and into the closet. There was a hidden door that lead to an escape route out to the back of the manor, normally used in emergencies. Now, it would enable her to escape unseen.

With her suitcase in tow, the trip from her manor in grove 3 to grove 20 took her an hour. By then, it was almost midnight, and the bars were in full swing. She took her time, keeping to the shadows and moving slowly so as not to attract attention. Finally, she stood outside Gabbi's bar, and her heart was beating loudly in her chest. She swallowed hard, staring up at the illuminated sign and listening to the rowdy laughter inside.

Faintly, she could hear the cords of a piano.

"Raion..." she whispered, excitement spiking in her blood, giving her the courage she needed to march up the steps. She'd left her suitcase hidden around the side of the bar, in an alcove Gabbi had shown her early in the week. Her hands were covered in white gloves, and clenched into fists of tension, but hidden in the folds of her skirt a her sides. When she reached the top step, she unclenched one hand and reached for the handle of the door, but it suddenly burst open, and Evelyn was forced to stumble back as two men tumbled out of the bar and down the steps.

She couldn't tell if this was a fight, because they were both laughing, despite the fact that they were aiming for each other's jaws. She closed her open mouth and shook her head a little, reaching up to pull her hat down over her face. Turning towards the door, she slipped in.

It was much louder inside of the building, and for a moment, Evelyn was stunned into immobility. She stared around her at all of the pirates and outlaws that filled the place to its limit, laughing, toasting, singing, drinking, and much more. It wasn't the best smelling place in the world, either, but she managed to keep from wrinkling her nose.

The sound of the piano was louder too, and once she adjusted to the cacophony of the room, she was able to pinpoint it to the back, to the right of the bar. Taking a deep breath, she headed for it. She may not be very strong, but she was certainly agile, and had a grace imbued from years of dance class, so she easily evaded most of the drunkards as she wove her way through the throng towards the piano.

Finally, she burst through the crowd and found herself in a small opening of people situated directly in front of a large, black piano.

Sitting on the bench, hands flying over the keys, was Monkey D. Raion.

Her lungs froze for a moment as she eyes drank him in. He was playing a rowdy song, singing in a deep voice that melted her insides a little, and his lips were drawn back in a perma-grin. His eyes were dancing, and glazed enough that she could tell he'd been drinking.

He looked...magnificent.

Shaking her head to clear it, she reminded herself of her objective. With only a slight hesitation, Evelyn tipped back the straw hat, and strode forward until she was directly in front of the piano, directly in his line of sight.

Thrusting her shoulders back and lifting her chin, Evelyn said in a clear voice. "Monkey D. Raion, please make me one of your nakama."

The piano sounded like a carnival and the microphone smelled like beer. He loved it.

Sabaody was always a good time. Any time he had to cross the Red Line, it was the place he stopped at. Earlier this evening, his ship had made port here after a long stay at Fishman Island where his nakama had been dealing with some personal business. It was all settled now and hitting fresh air and solid land and sunshine meant he and his small crew were rearing for a party.

And Gabbi's was the place to be.

Raion laughed, playing a jaunty version of Binks No Sake, at Sabo as the blonde man dragged two long tables together and hauled a very drunk Margherita up onto the surface and they began to dance wildly. Sabo was absolutely belligerent. In another corner, the twin Tiger Shark Fishmen brothers Zeke and Titus were engaging in a drinking contest with some of the other pirates. Being twice a broad and twice the weight of an average man, naturally, the twins had drank everyone under the table. What looked like bets were being placed to see which brother would be left standing.

He glanced up and around, looking for Gabbi for another beer when suddenly she was at his elbow, deftly snatching his empty and giving him a freshie.

"I was just looking for you," he laughed, zinging one hand over the keys and swigging his drink.

She smiled. Gabbi made a great bartender. She had that smile and personality that made patrons feel like they were the only person that mattered in the whole world, but she could hold her own against all of them, "Looks like I found you first," she kissed his cheek, "I'm making a killing tonight because of your music. I might be obligated to let your crew drink one or two on me tonight..." she glanced at Sabo, who was yanking a pretty little woman up onto the table with him to dance, "Though that probably means he drinks for free tonight..."

"Doesn't take much for him," he laughed again and with a wink, she was gone again, her tray braced on her hand as she maneuvered the crowd with ease.

In the lull of chords as he waited for someone to call out a particular song, he heard the very faint sound of the door opening and closing and automatically, his eyes directed to the sound. It was a long habit born from safety rather than curiosity. Being the captain of a crew was a huge responsibility. He was in charge of four other lives excluding his own. He trusted his nakama, but he watched out for them too.

So when the door tinkled and he saw two bodies fall out into the street, Raion did an automatic head count. Sabo was dancing. Margherita was beginning to argue with someone - he made a mental note to get Zeke or Titus to stop her before she bit someone - and Zeke and Titus were still competing, though Zeke had now just spotted their poisonous friend.

Good. Everyone was accounted for.

Another person had joined the bar; a woman. He watched her a bit uncharacteristically for him, his first thought that she looked a little out of place. A narrow framed woman, wearing a long lavender dress with cap sleeves and a wide brimmed straw hat on her hair. She appeared young, maybe around his own age, but most of her face was obscured by her floppy hat. She looked like a noble or someone. What a noble would be doing in a pirate bar was beyond him. Then again, his experience with nobles was limited to a very small sample size from nearly ten years ago.

She made her way towards the piano and his eyes floated away from her, over the crowd as someone shouted a song and he gladly picked up the melody for it and everyone joined in. He grinned, singing with them.

Another flash of movement caught his eye and when he looked up this time, it was right into the violet eyes of the woman he'd seen. Her gloved hands splayed on the piano and her voice was clear to him, even among the singing, yelling and cheering.

"Monkey D. Raion, please make me one of your nakama."

For half a heartbeat, his brain floundered. Where had he seen her before? Those eyes... the violet eyes, the shape of her nose, high cheekbones, her voice... His brain raked quickly, neurons firing until he came up with the answer and even still, he was shocked.

Ho. Ly. Shit.

The grin that had faded during his brief memory lapse quickly resurfaced and Raion waved a hand without taking his eyes off her. A local, capable pianist rushed over and quickly took his sit with hardly an interruption in the music.

"Well, well, well," he drawled, circling around to her side of the piano, "If it isn't little Eevee of the Goa Kingdom," he paused, holding up a hand, "I mean, Lady Evelyn," he scooped up her hand and made an exaggerated gesture of kissing her gloved knuckles, "Come down to mingle with the pirates finally...?"

In his mind, he had a glassed-up image of her, preserved as her thirteen-year-old self. Skinny, with knocking knees and pink lace stocking and little white Mary Janes. Violet eyes too big for her face and a little satchel bursting with herbs and plants. And a terrible pianist.

She... was not that anymore, clearly. A damned woman was what he was looking at. Full figured and taller, she'd grown into her eyes and while his thirteen year old self had thought she was pretty then, she was beautiful now.

Her heart jumped in her chest when his eyes met hers, and she saw the recognition flare up. He remembered her! Her smile, however, turned into a scowl at his words. She crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her chin up defiantly.

"I may be a lady, Raion, but as you know, I've wanted to be a pirate my whole life," she informed him, her voice haughty and airy, a vocal contradiction to her words. Her eyes flickered out to the many criminals who were now watching her with great interest, not all of them with friendly eyes.

In fact, some of them were watching her like they'd love to devour her whole.

A shiver raced down her spine, but she squared her shoulders and stepped closer to Raion, enabling her to keep her voice down and avoid transmitting to the whole bar her intentions.

Especially if he turns her down and she had to find her own way out of this place.

"And, if I do recall, _you_ promised to help me with this dream of mine," she reminded him in a lowered voice, so close to him now that she had to tilt her head back to see his face, and held her hat on her head with one of her gloved hands. _God_ he smelled good...And he was so much taller now, almost a full head taller than her. It took effort to keep her mind on track with what she was saying. "In return, _I_ promise to be an asset to your crew. I know I can help make you a greater pirate than even your father was."

The anxiety and trepidation she'd felt, being in a rowdy bar full of criminals for the first time at night, was washed away by a burning light in her eyes. Her lips were set, her chin tilted in a stubborn line, and her eyes, locked on his, were unwavering in their intensity. She _needed_ him to see how much she wanted this.

"Besides, if you break your promise, you could never be greater than your father," she added, knowing it was a low blow, but she was putting everything on the line for this, so she wasn't about to let this opportunity slip away. Though she was trying to be serious, the corners of her lips quirked a little, because it was the sort of thing she used to tease him with when they were little. She hadn't known who his father was or anything, but she'd had the annoying habit of telling him what he should or shouldn't do.

 _15 years ago_

 _"Dadddddd! Pleeeeaasssseeeee!"_

 _"Ask your mother."_

 _"I already asked her TWICE! She said ask YOU!" Raion, six years old, never dreamed that he would have to resort to begging this early in his life. Or ever, really. Pirates shouldn't ever have to beg for things they want. They should just... have them._

 _Luffy hunkered down to Raion's level, peering at him, his hand tucked under his chin in a very classic thinking pose. Raion held his breath._

 _"I don't think you deserve a piano," Luffy settled on after what felt like a lifetime of silence._

 _The little boy's jaw dropped, "But... but... please!" The traders were on the island for only two nights and yesterday, as part of his punishment from earlier that day, Raion was forced to accompany his mother as she perused what the merchant ship had to offer. As she bargained heavily for some parchment, ink and other school supplies and some clothing, he'd wandered through the ship and discovered a piano. A beautiful piano, shiny and new. His knowledge was pretty limited by his age, but he inspected it and from he could tell, it was in complete functioning order._

 _He'd begged his mother. She'd said ask his father. He'd said ask his mother. Now he was back to Luffy._

 _"You played a very mean trick yesterday," Luffy reminded him sternly._

 _"I already said I was sorry..." Raion pouted. He had boasted to some of the village kids that he was just as good a thief as his mother. They, of course, didn't believe him and told him that if he was a great thief, he would steal the Straw Hat and bring it to them to see._

 _So, he plucked the straw hat off his father's sleeping head and showed it to the village kids. It had escalated violently after that. In the end, Raion had to find his irate father and ask for help in getting the hat back from the punks that had stolen it from him. Luffy had been pissed._

 _"You took something that wasn't yours to prove that you are worth something. That is not okay." Luffy continued, pointing a finger at Raion, "You were easily fooled by boys not nearly as smart as you. And then you couldn't solve your own problem."_

 _Raion looked as his feet and scuffed his shoes against the floor. He knew he'd been stupid and manipulated. It was one thing to have his mother point it out to him, but it was another to have his father do it too. "I know..." he mumbled, ashamed._

 _His father stood up and rubbed his hand across the back of his neck in thought, "You have to play everyday, as much as your schooling. You have to commit to the learning the piano." he finally said, turning around and crouching in front of his son again._

 _Raion lit up, "YES! I promise! I promise!"_

 _Luffy scowled, "A promise is a heavy thing. Don't make promises you can't keep."_

 _Raion stopped and thought for a minute. Then launched himself bodily at his father, "I still promise!"_

 _Luffy laughed, his rubbery arms going around and around Raion, "Yosha! Let's go buy a piano!"_

He'd kept that promise, even today. He played the piano every single day unless he was sick or injured and even then, it depended on the depth of his sickness or injury. A good pirate, no, a good person, never broke their word.

Raion stiffened as she mentioned that promise he'd made to her all those years ago, torn between smiling and scowling. He supposed he had promised to help her, didn't he? Right before he left, he'd turned around in the middle of the street to see her leaning out the door, watching him.

"If you do ever become a pirate someday," he shouted, "Look me up. I might be able to help you out or something."

She smiled with those eyes too big for her narrow face, "Really? Promise?"

He remembered stopping and analyzing that question before he'd answered. Would she really call on him? Would she even become a pirate? He mentally shrugged. So what? If his father taught him anything, it was that starting early with networking worked always in your favor, "Sure, why not? Promise," he'd replied. And just like that, he had left.

Clever or her to bring that up now. A low blow, mixing his father in with it, but clever nonetheless.

His eyes flickered around the room. Did he want her on his ship? More likely than not, she'd be a constant liability. He couldn't fathom that she had any fighting skill whatsoever. Not in those skirts.

But of all the pirate ships out there, he'd like to think that his was the less of the evils. Half the men in the bar alone looked like they wanted to devour her. She wouldn't last three minutes on anyone else's pirate ship. She might make it a little while with him. He had promised to help her, didn't he.

And secretly, he kinda always fancied that someday he'd hook up with her and she'd be part of his crew.

"I have a little test for you first," he smiled wickedly, then leaned down to speak closer to her ear, just for her hearing, "I want you to try and leave the bar."

At her expression, his grin widened, "Baby, I'm not stupid. Half the men in this room want to know what's hidden under those heavy skirts of yours. If you can make it to the door unscathed, you can join my crew."

He didn't even care if she made it to the door. He wasn't testing her ability to defend herself. He wanted to know if she'd actually just do it. First order of business on a pirate ship; trust your captain's orders, even if you are afraid.

Evelyn's shoulders tensed for a moment as her eyes skirted the room and assessed the myriad of criminals and other roughened people that occupied the tables and filled the space between her and the door. They were all pretty intimidating-looking, and she could tell that many of them were keeping an eye on her and her 'skirts,' as Raion said so eloquently.

However, if it was simply a matter of getting to the door…then she should be fine. She'd made it into the bar, after all, so she should be able to make it out too.

"Fine," Evelyn said in a curt voice, and squared her shoulders. "That's easy," she added airily, waving her gloved hand in the air dismissively.

She turned her back to him, and her eyes were instantly assessing what path would offer the least resistance. Her dancer's instincts were kicking in, and she found herself rising up on the balls of her feet ever so slightly, then lowering herself back down in a restless gesture.

She waited until a gap appeared, then went for it.

She hadn't counted on one small factor when she'd agreed to this challenge. When she'd been talking to Raion, a good buffer of space had existed between the two of them and the rest of the room. She hadn't factored that the reason people had been giving them space was _because_ of Raion and his well-known status with the patrons in the bar.

The moment she walked away from him, however, it was like a stopper suddenly pulled from a drain. Men moved towards her like water rushing for the suddenly open drain.

She froze for a second, then realized that was a mistake. If she stayed still, she'd be like an open invitation to be grabbed or otherwise engaged.

Taking a deep breath, Evelyn plowed onward. She stepped, pivoted, twirled, and maneuvered herself through the room, evading grasping hands by inches as her hands held her dress closer to her frame. Twice, someone grabbed her skirt, but she didn't let it stop her momentum and managed to get free by yanking firmly and quickly the moment she felt the resistance.

She was almost to the door when a very large form suddenly moved into her path, a man so large it was impossible for her to pivot around him smoothly. Startled, she stopped, leaning her head back in order to see up into the face of the man who was now her last obstacle.

"Hello there pretty lady…you have some mighty fine skirts there," he said in a deep, roughened voice. He grinned at her in a way that told her instantly he was more interested in what was under the skirts than the dress itself.

"Why thank you, good sir. You have a rather splendid shirt on!" Evelyn answered after a breath's hesitation. She pulled on a winning smile and widened her eyes to make herself look surprised and pleased at the same time, pointing at his shirt as if it were the most interesting thing in the world.

"Huh…?" the man frowned as if confused, and looked down at himself.

Evelyn took that opportunity and hurriedly slipped around the distracted man. Moving quick and as agile as an eel, she grasped the door handle, yanked it open, and shot outside with her skirts rustling around her legs.

Breathing the fresh, cool night air, she felt a surging sense of victory. She'd done it! Smiling smugly, she whirled around to face the door, expecting it to be Raion behind her, and found herself facing five men instead as they slowly spread out to surround her.

Her stomach clenched and she felt like someone had poured a bucket of ice water over her head as a sense of panic rushing down her spine.

He had to laugh at the too fierce determination on her face as she nodded curtly and agreed to his request. She hiked up her skirts with purpose and she began to move through the crowd with more grace than he was expecting. When they were children she was the clumsiest little girl he'd ever met, constantly tripping and falling. But even as he laughed and chuckled, he couldn't help but admire the way she moved. Like a fighter, on the balls of her feet, deft and smooth. It was probably more accurate that she moved like a dancer instead with years of classes from that fancy family she came from.

Someone came up behind him and he didn't even flinch as Sabo draped his arm over Raion's shoulder. He could smell the liquor bleeding out of his first mate's pores.

"What's happenin'?" Sabo asked, rather, slurred, "Who's that classy broad?"

"New nakama," Raion answered with a grin as her progress was halted by a behemoth of a man and she handled him with noble ease.

Sabo laughed, "We could use some class on our ship."

"She sure has enough for all of us," he replied. He watched as she zipped out the door, "I've got to get her now. Behave yourself."

Sabo saluted and stumbled back a couple of steps, "Aye, aye, Senchou!"

Raion turned towards the door and made his way to it. Pirates moved out of his way automatically, giving him natural breathing room. Either they knew he'd mess them up if they stood in his way or they backed away from the power his exuded.

He pushed open the door with a tinkle and immediately his eyes narrowed. There was Eevee, standing just off the sidewalk and around her were five big men with glittering eyes and voracious smirks. As soon as he took that first step out and the door closed behind him, all five of them turned and looked at him.

"Scram," he growled, his voice no-nonsense. They glanced at him, at Eevee and at each other before they all disappeared down the street, sneers of disappointment rolling off them that Raion stole their prey.

Then he turned to her and grinned, his smile a touch wicked by his very nature, "That was smooth," he congratulated her, "Let's drink your success and then we can round up the rest of the crew and go back to the ship, ne?" he clucked her chin gently then opened the door for her with a flourishing bow, "Ladies first."

Relief bloomed in her chest when the door opened and Raion appeared. A smile, one she struggled to keep from being smug, flickered over her lips. She crossed her arms over her chest and tipped her head back to be able to see him better from under her broad-rimmed straw hat.

"You're making the right choice, Raion. I will be an asset to your crew. I'm much better with my medicines now. Ill keep your crew healthy," Evelyn told him with a grin on her face, stalking past him and through the door like she owned the place, her pride in having passed his silly little test evident in the lines of her shoulders.

Inside, she still received a good amount of attention, but she could tell that Raion's presence would keep her from being bothered by most of them. Stares slid from her to him, then slid away for good. Clearly, Raion had quite the influence.

"How many nakama do you have?" Evelyn asked, stopping and turning to face him. He stood close to her in the tightness of the room, and she got a whiff of his musky scent. He smelled amazing, and she was instantly distracted from her train of thoughts.

Her eyes slid away from his face and she made an effort to look like she was scanning the crowd for people who might be his nakama, but she kept his face in her peripheral vision, drinking in his dark eyes and hair. When she'd been young, she'd never given real thought to the attractiveness of this man, or any man's, really. She knew she wanted to marry the son of the Pirate King, but she'd never really understood being truly attracted to someone until she was older.

Also, she hadn't known, at the time, that _he_ was that man, and she now knew that she was most definitely attracted to him.

Once they returned into the bar, Raion waved Gabbi over to get Eevee a drink to celebrate her recruitment. The pirates in the bar gave her a wide berth now, even though eyes kept sliding over to her. But no one dared to come near her now that they saw she was friendly with the Dark Prince.

He handed her her drink, "To us," he smirked, clinking her glass. He ordered her something pink and feminine called a Cosmopolitan, but not lacking in the booze. He wasn't sure of her drinking habits, but there was no point in dicking around it because on his ship, drinking was a nightly occurrence.

He took a swig of his sake before answering her question, "There was six of us now," he answered, "You and me of course and then my second-in-command Sabo, the Fishmen twins and Margherita," as he listed each one, his eyes popped to each of them respectively in the bar and at the latter's name, he faltered, "Shit, stay put for a second, would you? HEY!" he shouted, leaving Eevee beside the bar for a moment.

Margherita was belligerent, shouting and screaming and swearing at someone and just as Raion took three steps towards her before an all-out fight started, Sabo stepped in and grabbed her, his arms under her shoulders to hold her back.

"You lilly-liver, cock-sucking bastard! Come and say that to my face, I dare you, you chicken shit! I've seen barnacles with more balls than you! SABO! Damn it!" Margherita screamed and she crossed her arms and dragged her fingernails down Sabo's arms, leaving five thin but gaping scratches.

The blonde man gasped and immediately let her go, dropping to his knees on the ground. Typically, such an assault wouldn't bring down even a kid, but that was the best and worst thing about Margherita. Thanks to her devil fruit, the Hebi-Hebi no Mi model: Viper, her claws and teeth were always poisonous. First came pain and rapid swelling and necrosis of the bite or claw mark, then usually fainting then a dramatic drop in blood pressure before death by cardiac arrest. Depending on the victim, the whole process took about 15 to 20 minutes.

Raion was immune thanks to his father's diligent training and lucky for Sabo, he'd built up a tolerance. Nonetheless, they still had less than a half an hour.

He grabbed Margherita from behind in a choke hold and within a heart beat, she was out. "Zeke! Titus! Let's wrap this up!" Raion hollered and he passed his unconscious nakama to Zeke. Raion dropped to his knees in front of Sabo, who was shaking like a leaf.

"How you doing, dude?" he asked with a laugh, fetching in his boot for a vial filled with antivenom, "Hurt much?"

Sabo made a motion with his head that was half nodding, half shaking his head so basically like a circle, "I'm really drunk so it doesn't really hurt that bad..." his eyes spotted the vial and he opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue for Raion to drop the solution onto his tongue, "Dat's da las boddle, ight?"

"Lucky you, I just recruited a doctor for our ship," he pressed two fingers to Sabo's neck to check his pulse. Still steady, "Can you stand?"

Sabo nodded and albeit shakily, got to his feet without Raion's help. With the little bit of antivenom, he'd be alright until they got to the ship. Raion flicked his head and Sabo headed out of the bar with Zeke and Titus in tow and little Margherita draped over Zeke's shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

He came back over to Eevee, the whole debacle having taken place in a matter of moments, "You're first bit of excitement!" he grinned, "You get to see the ship AND display your doctor skills on a viper scratch." he grabbed her by the shoulders and guided her out of the bar, "And your first job is to make more antivenom," just before the door closed on them, he blew a kiss over his shoulder at Gabbi and waved at her. His cousin-in-law waved back and laughed with a shake of her head.

And then the door closed behind him and they were out in the night.

Outside, the rest of the crew was waiting and Raion immediately noticed that Titus now had Sabo draped over his shoulder, but the man was still conscious.

"I'm way too drunk..." he chattered, even his teeth shaking in his head. Blood dripped down his arms and off his fingertips, the scratches turning a deep purple color tinged with red, "Is this our new nakama?"

"Everyone, this is Eevee, our new doctor," Raion introduced quickly, "And Eevee this is everyone and that's Sabo, your first patient."

Evelyn watched the debacle with a slightly open mouth and her eyes wide with curiosity and intrigue. His crew members seemed so...interesting. In fact, she could barely rip her eyes off of them as Raion came over to tell her that they were going back to the ship. All she could do was nod faintly in agreement as her heart started to beat a little faster.

Excitement was setting in.

She was going to be a _pirate!_

A sudden grin flashed across her face, and despite her best effort to squash it, her step had a little bit of a skip to it as they exited the bar.

It was only after they were going down the steps and approaching a small group of people, two of which seemed incapacitated, that his words actually hit her. "Viper...scratch? Antivenom?" She asked with a nervous laugh, because it seemed like such a random and totally out of place occurrence.

But she could tell, the moment she came up to his...their...nakama, that he wasn't joking. The blond man clearly needed medical attention. And while the other incapacitated individual, a very small woman, seemed in pretty rough shape, she seemed to be exhibiting mainly alcohol poisoning, a condition she'd just have to sleep off.

"Oh boy..." she muttered under her breath, but her heart was still hammering in excitement, so she hurried forward and immediately began to examine the blond man with a critical eye. "How did this man get poisoned by a viper?" she asked, turning a narrowed eye on Raion.

Her fingers feathered over the man's chin, then found the pulse at the top of his neck. While she kept an expectant expression on Raion, she began counting heartbeats. "And I'm going to need my bag...it's around the side of the bar, in an alcove. Fetch that for me while we start towards the ship. I'd like to get him laying down, if possible," Evelyn instructed in a rather firm, doctor-voice, but softly, so as to gentle the command.

He liked her tone of voice, simply because he could tell that she was being serious. And it was indeed a serious matter, frankly, his best friend's life was in jeopardy.

But this had happened so many times before that there was a little bit of the 'been there, done that' feeling that made them all a little blasé to the whole situation.

"He'll be fine," Raion waved it off as they started walking towards the ship, "We've been through this many times before, right, buddy?" he gave a thumbs up to Sabo.

Sabo weakly returned it, but didn't speak. He was starting to look a little white around the gills despite the antivenin in him already.

He retrieved her bag from around the corner, noting that it was pretty heavy for her to have carried across the archipelago and tapped Margherita's unconscious cheek with his free hand, "She ate the Hebi-Hebi no Mi, model: viper. She's not called 'Viper Bite' Margherita for nothing. She's killed bigger men with her nails and teeth alone."

The walk to the ship was speedy, as they hadn't docked very far away. "Welcome to the Hebi-Go!" Raion introduced. The ship was modeled heavily after the Thousand Sunny; after all, if you wanted a great ship, you might as well make it like the best ship in the world. It was a brig sloop design with two masts and a big, black, sinister snake head for the figure head. The mouth was capable of opening for a variety of canon-like weaponry.

Though currently rolled up, the sails were also black with the Black Mamba Jolly Roger on. It was a white skull with two swords crossing behind it instead of crossbones and winding out of the skull's mouth was a silver and black snake. The snake had a little silver crown on its head.

Because Raion was the captain and he was the Dark Prince.

Zeke and Titus went up the rungs built into the side of the ship first, hauling their precious cargo. Zeke headed towards the bow of the ship to deposit Margherita in the girls' dorm where she slept and Titus headed towards the stern, towards the medic ward which was stocked and rarely used as they previously hadn't had a doctor.

"After you," Raion said to Eevee, gesturing towards the ladder for her to climb.

Once on board, they followed Titus to the medic ward. The Tiger Shark fishman was just coming out. He gave them both a brief nod before he disappeared. The twins weren't much for words.

Inside was sparse, with two hospital beds with the heart/blood pressure monitors, a spacious bathroom, an empty desk and two bookshelves filled with books. Sabo was laying facedown on one of the beds, his arms over the edges, dripping blood onto the tiled floor. He was out, his breathing light and even. Whether he was unconscious from the poison or from the alcohol remained to be seen.

Raion dropped her bag and crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe, giving her the space she needed to get her bearings and attend his nakama, "It's a little lifeless in here," he explained casually, "But it can be yours now and everything you could ever want is here. You'll sleep in the girls' dorm with Margherita." he jabbed his thumb over his shoulder to indicate the direction of said dormitory.

Evelyn did a slow turn in the center of the medic ward, her heart speeding up a little as she took in the monitors, the doctors beds, the _tools_. There were several mortars and pistols on the counter, and empty jars she could fill with her herbs.

For a second, she forgot that she was supposed to be tending to a patient. Her mind filled with glorified images of herself as a famous pirate, images that she'd built up on her whole life. This was the beginning of the rest of her life.

She turned back to face Raion, and stared up at him for a half minute as emotion clogged her throat. She was finally free, free of the lessons, the dancing, the endless litany of being polite and following strict social rules. She was going to roam the seas as a free woman, a strong and renown pirate.

"Thank you..." she finally said, her voice hushed and heavy with her gratitude. With Sabo laying motionlessly on the bed behind her, it suddenly felt like they were the only two people in the room, and the space suddenly became much smaller, and he became much larger. A dusting of pink filtered into her cheeks. "I've been waiting for this opportunity my whole life...especially to be a member of _this_ pirate crew, the next best thing to being on the pirate king's crew." She flashed a cheeky grin up at him, then turned around towards Sabo.

Taking in a breath, she removed her white gloves, and pulled her hair back from her face. "Do you already have a sample of Margherita's venom? I'll need some of it to make the antivenom." She approached the bed that held the blond man, then did a quick check of his vital signs. When she was assured that he was pretty secure for the time being, she retrieved her bag and headed for the counter.

"Is there a source of fresh water in here?" she asked over her shoulder as she started pulling out her medical supplies.

As he watched her spin around and take in the office, her face literally beaming, that was the moment when it really sank in. Hiring new nakama was always very easy. He supposed he'd acquired that trait from his sire. He'd meet someone and instantly, he'd know if he wanted that person on his crew or not. When he'd met Margherita, his first nakama, within months of starting out on his own, he knew that he'd wanted her on his ship. She'd been barely thirteen years old then, but it hadn't mattered. He'd had a feeling. And he'd acted on it. Same with the brothers.

What he realized, watching her briefly investigate her new haunt, was that somewhere in the back of his adolescent mind, when he'd first met her, he'd already decided she'd be part of his crew. Someday.

That someday was today and it feelings washed over him like warm honey. It really didn't matter what she could or couldn't offer the crew, what her strengths and weaknesses were or anything. He'd simply wanted her here and as he was the captain, he could make those calls whenever and wherever.

"Everything you can possibly need is here," he told her, stepping into the room. He wasn't a doctor, but having gone more than four years on the open ocean without one, he and the rest of the crew adapted quickly to the minor wounds.

He moved over to the filing cabinet and yanked open the top drawer. Inside were medical files for each nakama, conducted by Chopper the last time they were in the East Blue. He plucked out Margherita's and laid it on the desk for Eevee to see, "We have medical files on everyone. This is Margherita's," he flipped it open. There were a few pages inside, but the first one detailed all her personal info: where she was born, when she was born, current height and weight, abilities, past illnesses, so on and so forth. Taped inside her folder was a little vial no bigger than his pinkie. He peeled it away and held it up for her to see, "This is a sample of her venom," he shook the clear liquid inside, "Don't waste it. It took my father, Zoro and me to hold her down while Chopper milked her for it. She doesn't like to comply much." he placed the vial down and pointed into the bathroom, "Fresh water in there. All the appliances are surgical steel," he turned and she was right in his way of where he wanted to be next.

"Move," he said, placing his hands on her hips and shuffling her to the side. He could feel the ribbing of her corset underneath the cotton of her dress. Hmm. Kinda hot. He pulled open the tall cabinet, "And in here you have all your supplies. You got your iodine, alcohol, sutures, needles, bandages, you name it." as he named them, he pulled out the sutures, needles and iodine to stitch up Sabo.

"We've had to make due without a doctor. It'll be nice to have one now," he grinned at her then leaned over and checked Sabo's pulse. Then flicked his nose. Sabo made a noise and wrinkled his face.

Evelyn slapped a hand over her lips to suppress the giggle that bubbled up as she watched Raion flick Sabo's nose. They had clearly been together for a long time, and Evelyn could see how much Raion must care for the man, because despite his blazé attitude and relaxed demeanor, his eyes were very focused when he checked on the blond man.

She tried to get herself to focus, but everything was so new and exciting that she found herself losing her attention by every little thing. Every new item and tool she found gave her butterflies of excitement. Raion's hands, casually moving her out of the way, had left a warm sensation where he'd touched her, and it lingered as she gathered the supplies she'd need to make the antivenom.

She told herself that it stood out because she was so rarely touched, since a lady was treated like a porcelain doll in her family, but she knew it was more than that. Raion exuded sexiness like Evelyn breathed oxygen. It was simply apparent in every line of his body, and while she'd told herself that she had no more interest in marrying the son of the pirate king, it was hard not to be affected by him.

"I'm really impressed you lasted so long without a doctor on your crew. Most pirate crews seek out a doctor as quickly as possible," Evelyn said as she began to stir up the ingredients needed. The vial of venom sat on the counter, next to the files of both Sabo and Margherita. She studied both of them as she worked, not even needing to look at what she was doing.

She'd made anitvenom many times before, though never for a 'snake' bite that was so lethal. "I'm going to need to get more of this venom too...that way I can make plenty of the antidote and every person on this crew can carry some, just in case."

He helped her take care of Sabo. While she mixed up the antivenom and asked questions, he answered them and used the iodine to clean up the scratches on Sabo's arms. Then, she hooked up the antidote and saline drip IV and after assuring her that his hands were quite steady, they each tackled an arm to stitch him up.

Sabo stirred at one point and half-consciously complained.

"That hurts..." he mumbled.

Raion glanced at him and cocked a brow. Sabo was still drunk as shit, "Don't be a baby," he'd replied.

Sabo managed a half-grin and turned his head the other way to wink at Eevee before going back to sleep. Raion and her bandaged him up and left him there to sleep off the sake and the poison.

He showed her where the girl's dorm was. Before, it had just been Margherita in there so her stuff sort of took over. However, he was a little relieved to see that one of the twins - probably Titus. He had a bit of a soft heart for human women - had brought up an additional bed, table, wardrobe and chest of drawers for Eevee and had kicked all of Margherita's clothes and tools to the other side of the room.

"Make yourself at home," he told her, "And come up to the kitchen in the morning for breakfast. Zeke is an excellent cook," he gave her a little flourished bow and disappeared upstairs to his room.

When he'd first made the blueprints for this ship, he'd imagined that he and Sabo would have side-by-side fancy captain bedrooms. In reality, Sabo had just wanted to sleep in the boy's dorm. But Raion still got his own room. He was the captain, after all.

It wasn't as lavish or spacious as he'd once dreamed it would be. The dreams of an eight-year-old were grandiose and with age, he'd realized that having curtains spun with real pirate gold and his walls papered with real treasure maps was not practical. All he had were the basics; bed, wardrobe, drawers, his own bathroom. And what he had for splurges were a beautiful cartography table and tools that his mother gave him and his grand piano.

He shut the door with a quiet click behind him and breathed in the silence. It had been a long and exciting day. They'd set out early from Fishman Island and surfacing from the deep sea was always exciting. Then the party at Gabbi's, Sabo and Margherita's little episode there and of course, hiring new nakama. Evelyn. The doctor.

He lifted the back lid of the piano just a crack to keep the sound soft and dropped his ass in the bench. He traced the ivories with his fingertips and smiled. He hadn't woken up this morning expecting to add a new member to his crew and seeing her again had been a surprise. As a child, he remembered her as clumsy, a little foolish and irresistibly adorable. She had this spirit of unadulterated innocence that he at the same time wanted to capture and corrupt. He coerced her to sneak out at night, drink her first shot of sake, dance barefoot on the bar at Makino's and sail in a little skiff just off the coast.

She didn't seem so different now, still exuding that innocence about life that came from suffocating as a noble daughter. And he still found her adorable, albeit in a more... uh... grown up kinda way. But the pirate life would corrupt her.

He played a few notes of a soft lullaby in Concert E. He couldn't form an opinion about her yet. Who knows, she might surprise him.

Raion was always one of the first people up. Zeke was first, without fail, getting breakfast ready and working in the kitchen. He'd been a chef long before he ever joined the Black Mamba Pirates and old habits died hard.

Showered and dressed in a tee shirt, shorts and sandals with his two sword tucked in his blue sash, Raion entered the medic ward to see Sabo still sleeping. Automatically, he checked his vitals then unplugged him from the IV.

"Wake up, sunshine," he said, tapping his palm against the blonde man's cheek, "We push off this morning."

Sabo groaned and made an attempt to shove Raion's hand away, "I'm still drunk," he commented, rolling over so his back faced the captain.

"I don't care. Get up," he scooped up a pillow and made to whack Sabo with it, but the man was too fast and blocked it with his hand. No one matched Sabo in speed, not even him. Not even his Haki could spare him; just because he saw it coming didn't mean he was fast enough to get away from it.

Sabo sat up and rubbed his face with his hands, "Ugh. I feel awful..." his eyes caught the bandages on his forearms and he made another noise, "Fucking Margherita..."

"Come on! Get up. I want breakfast," Raion barraged him with a grin. Sabo was fine, just hung over. He was confident that he'd made a fully recovery if he was able to block a pillow.

"Mmm... breakfast..." Sabo rubbed his flat stomach, "Okay! I'm awake."

They headed up to the second deck and Raion filled his first mate in on the new nakama recruitment.

"Maybe this afternoon after we push off I'll see what she can do for fighting," he suggested.

Raion nodded, "You read my mind. But take your time. It's gonna be a couple of days before we get to the volcanic island."

"Riiiight! Nee-san wants that obsidian. I almost forgot," Sabo only referred to Rouge as his 'sister' when he was with Raion. The rest of the crew had no clue and it was best kept that way.

In the kitchen, Zeke got them some coffee and they were all talking about the day and starting to really wake up when the kitchen door slammed open and Margherita sauntered in, followed by Titus.

"I need coffee," she demanded, "Stat."

It looked like she'd just rolled out of bed, which was very typical for her. She had on an oversized mens tee shirt that came down to her knees and that's all. Her navy blue pixie hair was sticking straight up and coupled with her eye kohl smeared down one side of her face, she was a hot mess.

She flopped down in a chair and Zeke handed her some coffee. She took a big sip and sighed, "Also, there's a chick sleeping in my room. Raion, I told you to keep your fucks out of my dorm."

"She's not a fuck, Margherita," he growled, "She's new nakama. A doctor who fixed up Sabo last night after you nearly killed him."

Her yellow snake eyes alighted to Sabo and looked at his arms, "Oh, right. I remember that. Sorry, Sabo," she blew him a kiss, looking anything but sorry and glanced at Raion with a hardened expression again, "And where do you get off choking me? You could've killed me!"

"You nearly KILLED your co-captain, you poisonous wench," his temper flared, always with Margherita. He loved her but damn it, she was abrasive.

She stood up, "Wanna go, senchou?" she yelled, then immediately sat down, holding her head with a moan.

Raion laughed, "Another time, darlin'," and she glanced at him and blew him a kiss and it was over, just like that.

Evelyn awoke when she heard movement in the room. Being accustomed to having her own room, she woke thinking that the maid had come in to lay things out for the day. It wasn't until she was blinking blearily at the ceiling that she realized she was in a room much darker than her own, and that the ceiling was wooden instead of gilded plaster.

She blinked.

Then last night rushed back into her mind, and she sat up in a flurry, eyes wide, as she peered around her new room. Half of it was sparse and empty, the other half was in complete disarray. Evelyn wrinkled her nose at the mess, then shrugged and got out of bed. To each their own.

Her suitcase was sitting on top of the still-empty bureau that had been brought in for her, and she took the time to put her clothing away in order to keep the fine material from wrinkling. Finally, she chose a simple yellow sundress and lace-up boots to put on after she freshened up. Her long hair was left down in loose curls around her shoulders, and she put on only the smallest amount of make-up.

She was so nervous to ascend and join everyone for breakfast that she had to clench her hands in front of her as she walked. Though she vaguely remembered the brief tour she was given the night before, she was able to find the kitchen easily by following the sounds of ruckus and foolery, as well as the _delicious_ smell of food.

Her stomach clenched excitedly. She hadn't eaten dinner the night before because she'd been so damned nervous. Just outside the door to the kitchen, she hesitated for only a moment before she squared her shoulders, and pushed herself inside.

The sounds of talking and laughing died down as every eye in the room turned her direction, save for the large fishman by the stove who was busy flipping something on a pan. Evelyn stopped, a blush instantly spreading across her cheeks, and she slowly lifted a hand and gave a little wave.

"Good morning everyone," she said in a timid yet cheerful voice, and tried out a bright smile. "Burbank Evelyn, nice to meet everyone," she introduced herself, feeling like the night before couldn't really count as a true introduction, given the circumstances and levels on intoxication in a few of them. She gave a little curtsey, then moved over to one of the empty seats at the large table heaped with food already. Lowering herself down, she glanced over at Raion and grinned more relaxedly. "I could get used to breakfasts like this," she commented brightly, and reached for a plate.

While she started loading food onto the plate, Evelyn turned her eyes to Sabo, quickly eyeing his condition before asking, "How are you feeling today, Sabo? Any numbness around the wound track where you were bitten?"

Everyone was tucked in eating by the time the door opened and Eevee revealed herself. Raion had to remind himself to chew the food in his mouth when he saw her. She was stunning today, more vibrant that even the night before if that was possible. Today she had on a yellow sundress that teased around her calves as she walked into the kitchen and introduced herself. The two thick straps that held up the bodice showed off the slenderness of her shoulders without being scandalous.

There were two silences in the room when she walked in. The first silence was the most obvious silence; it was the sound of something absent. Something missing, like talking because everyone's mouths were otherwise occupied. But as she sat down and Zeke handed her a plate and a steaming mug of coffee, another silence crept in. It was the silence of something withheld. Again, no one spoke. It was easy to mistake this second silence for the first, but if one listened closely, they could tell the difference. This silence lacked intention. No one spoke not simply because their mouths were full, but even moments after they swallowed, not a word was ushered. No breaths were sighed. It was an observant silence.

Sabo was the one who broke it, shattered the quiet like a stone thrown into a reflection pool and distorting the image. It rippled away as he spoke, "I'm chipper, actually. No numbness at all. Just hungover, to be honest with you." utensils tinkered, breaths in and out. Quiet, but not silence.

Raion opened his mouth to make a general announcement of her arrival when sharp as a snake, Margherita jumped on the table. He swallowed his breath. She nimbly stepped over the plates and food until she was right in front of Eevee and crouched down to meet her eyes, a beautiful contrast of yellow to purple.

It was quite a sight, actually. Eevee looked picture perfect, not an auburn hair out of place, her light makeup pristine where Margherita looked like the poster child for a walk of shame. Loose shirt, bare legs, smeared eye kohl, hair in absolute pandemonium.

The snake woman grabbed Eevee's chin between her thumb and her first finger, forcibly turning her face this way and that, eyes narrowed as if examining a specimen under a magnifying glass. Then, she looked her up and down, from her unfettered, waist long tendrils to her soft leather boots, "Well," Margherita settled on, her voice matter-of-fact, "You're a classy broad. Bet you've never even seen your own blood, let alone a fight," she snatched up Eevee's hand, "Look! Not a speck of dirt under those manicured fingernails..." she dropped her hand, "Your type has no business on a pirate ship."

"Margherita!" Raion snapped, his voice no louder than a soft utterance, but the warning was obvious. She was treading on very thin ice.

The slightest bit of tension swept over Margherita's shoulders, but she rolled it away by standing and practically dancing across the table top before she plopped back into her chair. She gave Evelyn one last, near-scathing look that clearly said "I wouldn't trust you as far as I can swim". She sipped her coffee.

"Eevee has joined our nakama as the ship's doctor," Raion formally introduced her and glanced at Margherita. She met his eyes for all of a half heartbeat before she found the dregs of her coffee extremely interesting. He didn't have to tell her she needed to speak with caution the next time she opened her blessed mouth. He made the decisions in choosing nakama and he frankly didn't give one shit about her opinion and he didn't give half that to hear it. "It is my understanding that she comes from a long line of highly skilled apothecaries and doctors. And yes, she is of noble blood and no, I don't care," he glared pointedly at Margherita.

"I'm just saying," she started casually, not looking up, "There's little point in having someone on this ship who can't defend themselves. It's a constant liability," she paused, but for the love of god, she wasn't done, "I'd rather trust my back to a beastly swordsman who can't stitch worth a shit than some sniffling little noble girl who'll hide when the Marines breathe our way."

"Margherita," Titus' deep voice echoed quietly across the table, "Shut yer trap."

She did, but it was obvious she didn't want to. She slammed her mug onto the table and left the kitchen in a flurry of storm and grace.

There was a bit of tense silence before Raion crossed his arms and leaned his chair back on two legs, "Margherita has a point, though she's not great at communicating that." he stated thoughtfully, his eyes on Eevee, "You are, at this point, a liability. You'll need to learn to defend yourself. Stat. Starting today, in fact, after we push off," he thumped his fist against Sabo's chest, "Sabo'll do the honors."

He grinned, "Aye Aye, Senchou!" he agreed wholeheartedly.

While Evelyn's demeanor remained calm and smooth during Margherita's assault on her pirate pride, on the inside, she was trembling with a mixture of guilty shame and anger. She felt ashamed because the snake woman was absolutely right, but she felt anger because she didn't care about that. She wanted to be a pirate so badly that she would do anything to make it happen. How could this woman not see that?

Raion's voice snapped her out of her internal thoughts, and while her expression had remained politely devoid of her true feelings, she turned her attention towards the captain now, trying to suppress the hot blush that was filtering into her cheeks.

Evelyn was just starting to feel like an outsider among these pirates-a feeling she never expected would happen once she'd joined Raion's crew-when Raion instructed that she would be taking self defense lessons, and pronto. "Really?" Evelyn asked breathlessly, her eyes round as saucers now as she turned her head towards the blond man. "You wouldn't mind?"

They were going to teach her to fight? _Magnificent!_ She'd always wanted to learn to fight, and could perform the basics of fancy fencing, but her parents had adamantly refused to allow her to take any sort of lessons involving combat. They believed a lady should never have to know anything about that. Evelyn thought they were stuck up and sadly mistaken.

"I've always wanted to learn how to fight!" Evelyn continued in that excited, breathless voice. She'd all but forgotten her half-finished plate of food. "I'm afraid I shan't be very good at it. I hope I don't frustrate you. I'll truly do my best to learn as quickly and as efficiently as I can," Evelyn vowed, nodding her chin resolutely as she reached out a hand towards Sabo to shake on it. "I do not want to be a liability on this ship, and I'll do everything I can to change that."

Her eyes flickered over to Raion for a second, and she couldn't help the sense of gratitude that welled up inside her. This man was making possible all of her dreams. How could she possibly repay him? He looked so regal and...captain-like, and she could easily see his father in him.

Looking back to Sabo, she got to her feet and planted her hands on her hips. "Where should I report to for training?" She asked, her excitement visible in the tension of her body. Her yellow dress swayed around her calves, and her violet eyes sparkled with it.

There was a quiet, collective chuckle around the kitchen at her innocent exuberance to learning to fight. Even Zeke had a small smile and a noise of amusement in the back of his throat. The Fishman didn't speak much.

"We can just practice right on the deck after we push off," Sabo smirked, "We'll see what you can do before I stuff you in the Dojo for reps and cardio."

Raion shoved his chair back and stretched a little, "Alright then, let's go. I need to be on the open ocean." Between being trapped under the sea for days on end and then needing to stop at Sabaody, he was feeling antsy, "Come, Eevee, this is the pinnacle of your pirating career."

Raion led the way outside to the deck. He snapped some rapid orders at Sabo and Titus. The two of them hopped to it; Sabo hauling anchor and Titus went to check the rudders and helm. Margherita appeared then, looking a little better freshly showered in a pair of low shorts, sandals and a black bandeau over her breasts. Without the t-shirt covering her shoulders, the snake tattoo that ran over her right shoulder and down her arm to her wrist was visible.

"Get the sails," he said to her, but she was already headed that direction and waved her hand at him.

Zeke appeared out of the kitchen and without even a command, he dove into the water without a splash. His job was simple; push the ship away from the docks. These things were easy when there was a Fishman handy.

Anchor freed from the sand on the bottom of the ocean and with Zeke helping it along, slowly, the Hebi-Go turned her head around to face the open sea. The black sails billowed outward, catching the wind, the snake skull stark white against the blackness. Raion stood on the Mamba figurehead, facing the ocean, his eyes scanning the weather, checking the Log Pose on his wrist.

Behind him, he heard Sabo give an inarticulate shout of joy and he glanced back to see his First Mate where he always was at a push off; clinging high up on the ropes that led to the Crow's Nest. Margherita was perched on Titus' tall shoulders while the Fishman steered the ship and Zeke was just climbing back on board.

The wind caught the sails hard and they pushed forward, away from Sabaody. The wind, the sun, the air, the tangy scent of the sea... feeling all his nakama nearby... this was why he was a pirate.

He grinned, wide and wild.

Evelyn stood in the center of the deck as preparations were made to push off from the dock. Excitement made her bounce on the balls of her feet, and she made sure to pay attention to the tasks that each member of the crew performed so as to be able to attempt it herself should the occasion arose.

Margherita's comment about her being a liability stung more than she would ever let on, and she was determined to prove the woman wrong. She was going to show these pirates that she had exactly what was needed to survive on the open seas. It was her dream, after all.

A shout of joy drew her attention upwards, and she had to grin at the sight of Sabo on the rungs, clearly engrossed in the sudden feeling of freedom that reverberated up the ships hull. Rather than the gentle roll of a docked ship, the Hebi-Go swayed and bounced on the water like she bounced on the balls of her feet; freed of the anchor that weighed them down, the dock in the ship's case, and her family and Saobody in her case.

Evelyn whipped around to face the receding shore, eyes wide as her breath caught in her throat. This was goodbye, for who-knows-how-long, perhaps goodbye forever, to the island that had been her home for the last several years. To the family that had raised her all her life. They may have never understood her desires and needs, but they did love her, and while she'd felt suffocated from all of the lessons and parties and social functions, she knew they thought they were doing what was best for her.

"Sayonara, oto-san, oka-san..." Evelyn whispered quietly, for no one's ears but her own.

For one heartbeat, she felt suddenly very alone.

A gust of wind from the open ocean pushed a medley of different scents into her nostrils, and Margherita's cat-calls to the shore snapped her out of her thoughts, and Evelyn's eyes slid over to Raion. He was still gazing at the shore, but not in a nostalgic, sad manner, but in a wild, excited manner. She could practically see his eagerness to be on the open ocean.

A smile tugged at her lips, and then the smile turned into a grin.

"To the open ocean, senchou!" Evelyn called to him with a sparkle in her eye and a mischievous tilt to her grin. Her dress fluttered madly around her calves as she turned away from the shore, and to the open ocean, pointing a finger to the destination her heart had been yearning for since her youth. "May our journeys be sung about for decades to come!"

Unexpectedly, three voices chorused a sound of approval, and Evelyn looked up to see Sabo grinning at her while Zeke and Titus nodded their heads at her in agreement. Margherita, however, was silent, watching Evelyn with no expression. Finally, the girl turned up her nose, hopped off Titus' shoulders, and disappeared from Evelyn's line of sight.

Evelyn ignored her, and walked into the center of the deck, planting her hands on her hips and tilting her head back to stare up at Sabo. "I'm ready for my training, Sabo-san!" she called with a smile.

The Hebi-Go sailed out to sea, leaving Sabaody Archipelago behind. The islands grew smaller and smaller until they were just smudges on the horizon. A wave swelled and suddenly, the islands were gone.

Raion jumped off the figurehead, his sandals slapping against the deck. He spoke to Titus quickly and they set the ship to sail for the obscure island of Shadow Stone where they would harvest the obsidian for Rouge. The island was difficult to navigate to, being off the beaten path and was uninhabited due to the highly volatile nature of the volcano at the island's center. However, the obsidian rock created by the lava flow was highly sought after due to its color; pure, snowflake white. It was rare and fetched a very pretty beri. And since Raion was a swell navigator and in the area, his smuggling cousin had asked him to pick some up for one of her clients.

Now with a set course, everyone disappeared to complete various little jobs they did on the ship. Zeke was usually found in the kitchen, prepping meals, making snacks and drinks. Titus played deep in the hull of the ship or found a medley of odd jobs and repairs the ship needed to stay tip-top. Margherita was a loose cannon at best; she did whatever the hell she wanted, whenever and wherever she wanted to do it.

That left Raion, Sabo and the newly recruited lovely doctor.

Raion leaned against the railing, catching Eevee calling up to Sabo. She stood in the middle of the lowest deck, her hands planted on her hips and her violet eyes bright with excitement. He leaned his elbows on the railing and steepled his fingers together. This should be entertaining to watch.

"Yosha! I'm so ready!" Sabo called back with a laugh. He let his hands go from the net and flipped upside down, hanging on by his knees. His tee-shirt rode up a little, but he kept it from completely defying gravity with a hand. He frowned at Eevee, "You aren't gonna fight in that, are you?" he gestured to her outfit, "You have shorts and a tank top or something?"

He reached down and grabbed the net above - or below, really, it depended on perspective - his head and detangled his feet from the net. He tumbled to the deck and landed solidly on his feet, making nothing more than a little 'thump'. That was the thing with Sabo. His mother was the embodiment of grace and his father was an superb close combat fighter. Sabo ended up with the best of both; during a fight, not a single footstep was wasted or out of place, his speed unmatched and he could take out a man three times his size in the blink of an eye.

He approached her as their new nakama shook her head, his chin propped in his hand in a classic thinking pose. Then, as fast as the thought must have popped into his head, he acted on it. He grasped Eevee's little dress by the hem and spun that girl right around. There was a loud ripping sound and Raion's jaw dropped open when her calf-length dress suddenly became a thigh-high dress.

Sabo made an appreciative noise in the back of his throat, "Garters," he commented, "Nice touch."

There was a chorus of laughter from the other side of the ship and Raion glanced up to see the Twins leaning against the opposite railing with Margherita. Clearly they'd come to watch and were highly entertained. It was such a rare sight to see them laughing that even Raion cracked a grin.

"Margherita, get that girl some shorts and a tank," he called casually.

She laughed, "Why? She can fight like that!"

"Now, please."

The snake woman rolled her eyes and still laughing, headed to the room to get some clothes.

Evelyn let out a mortified squeak when Sabo ripped her dress, then looked down at herself in dismay. Her face flamed with embarrassment to be seen in such a manner, and it took everything in her power not to try and cover herself up. Not only that…but she'd liked that dress!

"If you were just going to require me to change anyways why did you rip my lovely dress!" Evelyn said hotly to Sabo, turning her back on him and stiffly marching away. She followed after Margherita, her chin tilted up into the air as she tried to gather as much dignity around her as she could.

Despite being miffed, the laughter and lightness in Raion's and the rest of the crew's faces tugged a smile to her lips as she shook her head at them. She could already tell that she was going to like Sabo, even if she wanted to smack him already. The shameless grin on his face and his laughing eyes gave away his easy-going personality, and Evelyn liked it.

She could tell it took a lot to ruffle his feathers.

It didn't take long to change, though it was made longer by Margherita's snippy comments regarding fancy dresses and girls who didn't belong outside of a mansion. Evelyn ignored them all and returned to the deck once she'd finished changing. As she walked, bare-footed now, she felt extremely exposed, wearing nothing but a loose tank top and a pair of shorts. She'd never had this much skin exposed to anyone except her parents and her maid.

She hesitated at the door to the deck, peeking down at herself before slowly venturing out. A shiver raced down her spine as cool, ocean air skittered over her arms and exposed legs, but it was a rather nice feeling, freeing really.

"Well, my speed will certainly be improved without the weight of my garments, that's for sure," Evelyn commented with a shy smile as she approached the blond-haired man. "But I'm equally certain that my skin shan't be staying in this condition," she added, noting how exposed she was compared to before. Rather than be put off by this realization, Evelyn's eyes glowed with excitement as she stood before Sabo. She was finally going to learn how to fight. "Shall we begin, sensei?" Evelyn asked with a cheeky grin.

Everyone had a good laugh at the show Sabo and Eevee provided even as she followed a haughty Margherita into their dorm.

"Sabo, be nice to that poor girl," Titus called, his deep voice soft yet carrying.

The blonde man laughed, "She can't wear dresses to work out! I did her a favor, really."

Raion rolled his eyes despite the fact that Sabo had a bit of a point, even if he went about it in a strange way. Dresses and high heels were not practical for fighting in, especially not the dresses Eevee liked to wear. She was going to need an alteration to her wardrobe if she wanted to be a solid fighter. And a good pirate.

After a few minutes, Margherita was the first one out of the dorm, storming in her huffy, non-compliant way that she sometimes had. It was difficult to remember that she was only seventeen when she'd been around for so long. She was defiant and rebellious at best.

The door opened again and Raion leaned nearly over the railing to see that Eevee was peeking out of the door. He couldn't help it; he grinned. Clearly, she was quite shy...

She came out with her head held high, dressed in shorts and a loose tee shirt that nearly hid said shorts from view. From the right angle, she could be wearing nothing under there for all he knew. Someone with a sexy imagination might think that she looked pretty close to how she might waking up in someone else's bed...

Raion had a pretty sexy imagination.

Sabo snorted at her, "You work out in those from now on," he told her, his finger indicating her clothes, "Or you could do dresses, I guess, but they gotta be the short ones," he slashed his hands over his legs, a touch higher than mid-thigh, "That's how real pirate girls wear their dresses," he winked.

Geezus fuck, Raion thought. Eevee in little dresses? He gave her a once over from his spot leaning against the railing. She was thin for sure, but she had legs for miles. Nice ones too, smooth looking and supple. As she bounced on the balls of her feet, her calf muscles flexed and stretched. He could run his hands over them, feel their softness under his palms...

He pinched the bridge of his nose in vain attempt to wipe those thoughts out. Damn it, he must really need some nooky if he was fantasizing over his nakama.

His reverie was jarred when Sabo clapped his hands, "Alright, let's start by seeing how you move..."

For the next several hours, Sabo first assessed her abilities and skills, then doled out a series of workouts and exercises tuned towards her strong points, such as her speed and agility, as well as her weak points, her lack of strength. It was grueling and long, and several times Evelyn almost gave up, but it was actually Margherita's yellow eyes, taunting her, that kept her from quitting.

When Sabo finally released her from her responsibilities, Evelyn was sore, sweaty, and tired. It was almost dinner time by then, but Evelyn retreated to the baths in favor of soaking her sore muscles. She was too wrung out from working out all day that she wasn't even hungry anyways.

Soaking in the baths, Evelyn let out a long sigh, telling her muscles to relax as she laid her head back against the edge of the tub. Truthfully, she considered this to be a luxury. The Sunny-Go aside, most pirate ships didn't have hot baths, and while Evelyn was used to luxurious bathing suits in the ships her father used, she had never expected one on her future pirate ship.

But she supposed that if she were Monkey D. Raion and had a cyborg engineer and shipwright for an uncle, she'd make sure she had baths too.

Evelyn soaked for over an hour, taking her time washing and letting the hot water work its magic on her. When she got out, she was still incredibly sore, but she felt much better than she had before she'd gotten in. Toweling off, her stomach gave an audible growl of hunger, and Evelyn looked down at herself in dismay. Beside's breakfast, all she'd eaten today was a sandwich hurriedly stuffed down during one of her breaks.

She'd likely missed all of dinner, given how slow she was moving and how long she'd taken in the baths. Perhaps there would be some leftovers or something else to eat in the kitchen? She hoped so...though she wasn't entirely sure she was able to just...walk into the kitchen and pick out some food. What if the food belonged to someone else?

Deciding it was worth an attempt, Evelyn dressed herself in one of her evening lounge dresses-a simple, comfortable light blue dress that had a white ribbon tied around the waist-and headed for the deck.

The night air had a slight chill to it as Evelyn stepped outside, looking up to see a myriad of bright stars blanketing the sky. A faint smile curved the edges of her lips. "How lovely..." she murmured to herself, and took a deep breath of the sea air.

In response, her stomach growled again, as if to remind her of her hunger.

Wrinkling her nose, Evelyn glanced around, surprised to find that it was eerily quiet on board. She spotted Raion, over by the edge of the ship with his feet dangling over the edge. Despite her hunger, she was tugged in his direction. Her footsteps made no sound as she walked, a result of all of her dancing, and knowing she might startle him if she didn't, she quietly called his name when she was coming up behind him.

"May I join you?" she asked with a smile, trying not to look like she was half-limping as she closed the distance between them.

Eevee hadn't come to dinner. Sabo had beaten the ever living shit out of that poor girl today and it wasn't even a fraction of what any of the crew were capable of. Margherita made a few little snide comments, but Raion shut her up with a look. Honestly, that girl needed to cut the shit. Twelve hours she'd known Eevee all she did was rag on her.

Everyone had retired to certain parts of the ship and he found himself alone on the deck. Twilight set in and the stars began their little twinkle show. He perched on the railing, his feet hanging over the side, picking out constellations and watching the water. He and his mother used to do this all the time. Some of his earliest memories were taking long walks with her around the island, studying the waves and how they slammed into the cliffs, studying the cloud and star patterns in the sky. He was the best navigator in the world because of her.

His Haki tingled moments before her heard Eevee's soft voice call out to him. Her feet made no sound as she crossed the deck. He turned his head to the side to watch her close the distance between them and he smirked to see her strange gait.

He patted the railing beside him, "Little sore, are you?" he grinned as she gingerly sat beside him, "You're gonna hate life tomorrow, especially when Sabo knocks on your door at the ass crack of dawn," his grin became a little wicked.

"How are you adjusting to the pirate life so far?" he changed the subject, "Is it everything you ever dreamed it would be?" she looked positively ethereal in the blue dress she was wearing. It fell in wispy layers to her bare feet with a white ribbon tied in the back. He found she was an odd paradox to what he was used to. Most of the women he'd encountered in his life and profession waltzed around in various states of undress. Eevee's couth and culture... mmm, he couldn't decide if it fascinated him or if he was just simply thrown by it.

A grimace skittered over her features when she failed to hide her soreness from him, followed by a sheepish grin as she leaned against the railing and peered down to the churning ocean below. Next to her, the gentle sea breeze tossed Raion's intriguing scent into her face, and she found herself unnaturally aware of the larger man. As kids, she'd never been so aware of the difference between them. Perhaps this was because there _hadn't_ been as many differences between them, being children, but now as adults, he was so much larger than her. While she had curves, he had so many straight lines and rigid muscles. As a lady, she'd never been permitted to be alone with men once she'd reached a certain age, and Evelyn decided her fascination with Raion stemmed from that lack of experience. It completely explained why she wanted to know everything about him, including the way he felt under her fingertips.

Not to mention that fact that when they had been kids, he'd given her her first, and only, kiss. One she'd practically forgotten about until seeing him again.

Shaking such thoughts from her mind, Evelyn trained her eyes on her bare feet as they swung gently over the rolling waves several yards below. "Well, considering I went all day today without someone treating me like I'm made out of porcelain...it's been wonderful!"

Evelyn lifted her face to gaze out across the ocean. "To have the freedom to skip dinner and not have several people trying to break down my door in distress and concern...To not have to sit while I'm painted and primped for a social gathering or even for a regular evening meal...All of it is wonderful," Evelyn said with a soft smile on her face, her eyes focusing not on the horizon now, but on the various illusionary faces and grabby hands and layers of silk she was normally faced with on a daily basis.

She sighed, turning her face towards Raion and leaning her cheek against the railing as she spoke. "Though I will admit, I was not expecting this much...physical fatigue," she admitted tactfully, her violet eyes dancing with amusement as she reached down to draw her skirts up a little, revealing some bruises along her feet and calves from the various exercises that Sabo had drilled her through.

"Not that I'm complaining, of course. It might not be easy, but it's certainly better than what I'm used to dealing with. Besides, you should have seen my feet the week after they started me on ballet." She shuddered in exaggerated horror, wriggling and pointing her toes on reflex.

As he watched her, clips and phrases of their one adolescent summer raced through his head. She was predictably the same; the same sorta over-exuberance about everything, the same romantic innocence about the pirating life, the same desire to come uncaged, so to speak. Even some of her mannerisms he remembered; her eyes would get wide, she'd sigh dreamily, the way her lips and eyes would tighten ever so slightly when she spoke about the social responsibilities of a noble daughter.

He liked to watch her, found himself drawn into watching her. It was the same feeling he had when he'd first knocked into her in the Goa Kingdom and had somehow found himself following her home. The same feeling that had led his feet through the forest and to her doorstep the next damned day. It wasn't that she was unique or that he was curious about her. He just her unexplainably alluring. Maybe that was why he'd kissed her back then. It had been for the effect really, to see how she'd react. She'd wrinkled her nose and asked him why he'd done it, which hadn't been the reaction he'd wanted at all, really, but it had been amusing nonetheless.

"My first week as a pirate was awful," he confessed, "It was just me and Sabo, trying to run this big ship by ourselves, filled with more confidence than we had blood in our bodies. We didn't sleep for a week and nearly killed each other." he shrugged, grinning as he remembered those first few days on the ocean. They were both so juiced up with excitement and adrenaline, so in each other's space all the time, so tired and out of sync, so young and so... everything. A testament to how that week went was that it ended with Sabo decking Raion in the face and calling him a "bossy, entitled brat" and not talking to each other for two days before a little rain hit and somehow, Raion fell overboard. Sabo fished him out of the sea and they both mutually decided to abort all their preconceived plans in favor for a new one.

"The last time we were on a boat in the dark I showed you all the stars. Remember?" he changed the subject, his voice quiet. When they were teenagers, he'd acquired a little skiff and stuffed it with blankets and kidnapped her from her fancy house. He'd sailed them out into the water and pointed out all the constellations to her. The best part had been when she was suddenly waking him up and they had to race the sun back to her house so she wouldn't get in trouble.

The quiet tone of his voice made Evelyn turn her head to stare at her new captain. He was staring skyward, and his calm, contented expression urged her to keep staring at him, but she forced herself to follow his gaze anyways.

"Yes, I remember...probably one of the best nights of my childhood," she told him with a smile, letting her eyes glide from constellation to constellation, some of which he'd taught her, others she'd learned on her own. When she'd asked him how he'd known so much about the stars, his answer had been that his mother, one of the best navigators on the open ocean, had taught him everything he knew.

Having never thought of the idea that stars could be so crucial to navigating, Evelyn had been fascinated. Then she'd gone on to learn other constellations on her own in hopes that one day her knowledge would benefit her when she became a pirate.

"When I was feeling overwhelmed by the rules and social structures of my life, I used to sneak away to watch the stars at night. My father had to put a lock on the window that lead to the roof so that I would stop climbing out onto it. He said I was going to break my neck someday," Evelyn chuckled, shaking her head. She'd just opened her mouth to say something else with her stomach gave a loud, and demanding, growl.

Letting out a horrified squeak, Evelyn's hands flew to her stomach and she turned her head to stare at Raion with wide eyes. "Ever so sorry," she muttered, her cheeks pink with embarrassment. "I missed dinner, I was cleaning up from my training," she hurriedly tried to explain, feeling mortified that such an unlady-like sound had come from her right when she was sitting next to her captain.

He laughed when her stomach growled loudly in the quiet. Less because of the noise it made, but more because of her reaction. She flushed so dark he could see it despite the night and hurriedly made some excuses and tried to dismiss the sound. And he just laughed at her.

"Well, we should get you some dinner," he announced, still grinning ear to ear. He swung his legs around and hopped off the railing. He stretched, his arms reaching above his head and he twisted from side to side. Then, he held out his arm and gestured for her to take it, "My lady," he added with a little flourish of his free hand. The tease glinted in his eyes.

He walked with her to the kitchen and pulled out a stool at the bar counter for her to sit in. A smile still played around the edges of his mouth, still lingering from her embarrassment earlier, yet sticking around for some entirely different reason. He didn't completely go into the whys and whats yet.

With Eevee seated, he darted into the kitchen and started banging around, getting a few things out of the pantry, fridge, et cetera. He wasn't as great a cook as Zeke was, but he'd made due for a bit in his life. With water boiling on the stove, he made a little beat with the wooden spoons while he waited, the music unconscious.

"We have left over soup. And veggies," he told her, interrupting his rhythm for a moment to grab two wine glasses from the top shelf and the bottle off the counter. He sloshed some of the red liquor into the glasses and slid one towards her, "Here. Take the edge off." he smirked, sipped from his glass and continued his rhythm with the spoons as if it never ended. And moved around the kitchen, getting her a plate together of everything they'd already eaten for dinner.

She struggled to maintain her normal grace when they moved from the deck to the kitchen. Her body had stiffened in the few minutes they'd spent sitting on the edge of the ship. Still, sliding into one of the kitchen chairs afforded some relief as she willed her muscles to relax. When he pushed a glass of red wine towards her, she reached for it eagerly with both hands.

"Yes, please..." she murmured, almost to herself, as she took a big gulp of the red liquid. This gulp was followed by a more lady-like sip, two small spots of embarrassment showing high on her cheekbones. It was a confusing feeling, because her noble instincts were screaming at her that she was in an incredible horrifying situation, all banged up and alone with a man while gulping down alcohol. Yet she had to keep reminding herself that she was a pirate now, and that none of her normal daily social restrictions applied out on the open sea.

Regardless, on an empty stomach, the wine went right to her head, and helped her aching body relax into the wooden chair. She let out a sigh of relief, her eyes lidded, and tilted her head back to watch Raion from under her lashes.

His hands and body were sure and confident as he moved through the kitchen, preparing a plate for her. Her throat ached to tell him that she was never going to be able to finish the heaping amounts of food he had plated for her, but it was already too late, and she was too tired to bother at this point.

"Thank you, again, for this. I'll try not to miss meal-time in the future," she assured him with a small smile, taking another sip of wine. As the warmth of the room and the smell of the food started seeping into her body, Evelyn was struck by how absolutely content she was in this moment, despite her aching muscles and joints. She also found she was incredibly comfortable with Raion, perhaps because he was a part of her childhood, and the idea of him trying to hurt her seemed absurd.

In fact, she was pretty certain he could protect her from anything she couldn't handle herself.

The thought brought warmth to her cheeks, and she was happy to have the wine as an excuse. She knew she was staring at him, watching him, but as he was preparing her meal, she had an excuse for that too, so she let her eyes linger on his form, enjoying the unique grace her had all to himself.

"You could have been a dancer," she commented absently as she watched him pivot from one counter to another. She realized, to her immediate horror, that she'd spoken those words aloud. Shocked at her own candidness, a surprised and delighted chuckle slipped past her lips, and she took another sip of wine. "You can just blame it on this though, if that is more to your liking," she added in a polite, lady-like voice, holding up the glass of wine and swishing its contents around in the glass.


	2. Chapter 2

***** DISCLAIMER, PLEASE READ- A Pirate's Life for Me is the third (kinda fourth) published story in this One Piece Universe that I and Jesachi, u/711995/Jesachi, have written together. Many people really enjoyed the first one, The Way of the Sword and Rose, but Jesachi and I have moved on to other writing in our lives, and we don't think we're ever going to go back and edit these. Therefore, this is a WARNING that this story is completely UN-EDITED and also written as a roleplay between myself and Jesachi, so the point of view switches between the two main characters every now and then. If this bothers you, don't read it :) We are only publishing these because we thought our fans might want to see the direction we took with our One Piece Universe. I hope you enjoy! Raion and Eevee are an amazing couple, and Luffy's entire crew makes an appearance eventually :)**********

She took to the wine like a champ; he refilled her glass again before he was finished tossing together her meal. His acute senses noticed immediately as the red liquor went right to her head. Her shoulders relaxed, the apples of her cheeks pinked and as he moved around the kitchen, he could feel her violet gaze penetrating his back. It made all the hair on the nape of his neck stand up. Physically, his body was completely relaxed and he drummed out his rhythm like he wasn't bothered by her eyes at the least.

He couldn't even decide if narrowing down how he felt to something so mediocre as 'bothered' was even appropriate. Was he bothered? He sure as hell shouldn't be. Raion shifted in such as a way that he could see her, but not let on that he was, in turn, watching her now. She looked at him over the rim of her glass, not at his face, but at his torso, his legs, his shoulders. She was investigating his body with those too-big eyes of hers, lidded from drink. What was she thinking? A thousand thoughts tramped through his skull in the amount of time it took him to set out a plate and silverware for her and begin to load up her plate. What did she find so interesting? Was she aware of him, in only the way that the fairer sex could be? Was it sexual tension? Did she find him attractive? Was she contemplating the physical difference of him now, compared to when they were teenagers? She watched him a lot when they were kids too, he suddenly remembered. Almost like, every moment she was surprised by him. Was that what she was thinking now?

As he slid the plate across the bar top to her, she shut down all his ponderings with a quick, "You could have been a dancer."

He perked a brow and refilled her glass as she laughed at her own comment, "A dancer?" he repeated, a little baffled, as his mind had been drifting off in a completely different direction as he predicted her musings. Then, he chuckled with her, "Baby, you and I have very different interpretations of dancing, I'm sure," that wicked light crept into his eyes as he sipped his own wine glass and smirked at her over the rim.

"That being said..." he set his glass carefully on the counter, then came around to her side and gestured for her to stand up, interrupting her meal, "Show me what kinda dancing you think I'd be so good at..."

Evelyn's eyes went wide as saucers as he offered his hand to her. The glass of wine was perched precariously at her lips, and stayed there for a moment as she stared up at him, her wine-addled mind debating on whether or not he was serious.

He clearly was, since he didn't move away or laugh at her, and Evelyn hurriedly took a sip from the wine-so as to not look foolish for having brought the glass to her lips in the first place-and set it down next to his glass.

"Oh my, I'm a bit unprepared for a lesson right now, but I'll do my best," Evelyn said with a nervous laugh, her cheeks flushed for two reasons now, the wine and a self-conscious blush. Placing her hand in his, she allowed him to help her up, smoothing her skirts as she moved away from the table to where the floor was more open.

"My comment...about your dancing...I suppose I meant to say that you have a natural grace about you that I can see in everything you do, from walking to preparing a meal. Insofar as to what _kind_ of dancing I was referring to...well, there are many kinds I believe you'd excel at, if not them all, but shall I show you one for now?"

Evelyn turned to face him, her eyes seeking his face, connecting with his gaze, then hurriedly skirting away as she smiled somewhat shyly. She'd never really felt shy around Raion before, but this somehow felt...different. Like she wasn't showing a dance to a girlfriend of hers. It seemed somehow more...charged. More electrified. The energy that had been waning but moments before had come coursing back into her veins.

"We could commence with the simple steps of the waltz, if that's pleasing to you?" Evelyn inquired, lifting one hand up as if to place it on the shoulder of her invisible partner, the other going for his invisible hand.

Her disposition to take what he presumed to be a very quick, mildly flirtatious dance up to the level of dance lessons made him laugh. Apparently, dancing was not to be taken so lightly. Nevertheless, when she held out her arms as if embracing an invisible man, he stepped right into that role, catching her hand in one of his and placing his other at her waist.

"It should indeed please me," he repeated her words back to her, a little husk behind them as he teased her. Her mannerisms were so polar opposite to his that everything she did entertained him. He supposed that that must've been what drew him to her even as children. She was so... refined and naive, raised in a sophisticated household whereas his upbringing had been civil at best. He was civil at best.

She moved gracefully, counting a 1-2-3-4 of a waltz and he, ever the quick study and light on his feet to begin with, picked it up within a few moments. She commented on his footwork and he found it incredibly difficult to take her seriously. What had started as an innocent attempt to touch her had bloomed into lessons. Though, he found that the way she moved was utterly attractive; he'd thought so that first night when they'd reunited.

He laughed as she twirled under his arm and when she came back to center, he dared to pull her closer. His hand went to the small of her back and for a brief, scalding moment, they were flush from hip to chest. His heart did a little double-beat as all her curves burned into his torso.

He gave her a wicked grin and stepped back from her. "Thank you for the dance, my lady," he said, bowing to her with a little flourish and kissing her knuckles, "Finish your supper then it's off to bed with you. Sabo will have you up early in the morning for your training." he winked.

Evelyn, as a noble lady, had danced with many men in her life, young, old, handsome, repugnant, but never had she been so affected by her dance partner. Rather than feeling calm and collected, she felt flustered, not at all like the collected instructor she was trying to project. She was practically stumbling over her own feet, too damned aware of the heat of his hands on her skin and his scent in her nose.

Her cheeks flushed and her heart fluttered in her chest when he pulled her close to him, and Evelyn felt rather silly for feeling dizzy when he stepped back from her and dropped his hands. She could tell he was teasing her, from his words and from his little wicked grin, but his teasing affected her much more than she wanted it to.

She was supposed to be the one instructing him, yet somehow, she felt like he was the one in control of the situation. He picked up dancing so quickly that it was like she wasn't really teaching him, but rather, refreshing someone who'd danced all their lives.

It was maddeningly attractive.

She wondered if she affected him at all like he did her. It didn't seem like it; he was so confident and sure with everything he did, and had looked completely in control of himself during the dance. It was probably the least productive dance lesson she'd ever given.

"Thank you for preparing a meal for me," Evelyn answered, tugging her straying thoughts back to common sense. She blinked a few times and made a monumental effort to act like she was just as unaffected as he seemed, cooling returning to her seat. She finished her wine and ate quickly, feeling like every bite was dragging her further and further down the well of exhaustion. Eventually, she could eat no more without falling asleep at the very table, and excused herself politely.

That night, she didn't even remember her head hitting the pillow, she fell asleep so quickly. All she did remember, however, was the bone-deep feeling of utter accomplishment.

She was a pirate!

Smiling, she let herself be carried away on the tides of sleep.

After she'd finished her meal and dismissed herself for the night, Raion cleaned up all the dishes and put everything away before stepping out into the fresh night air.

He promptly leaned against the wall and took a deep breath of the tangy sea air.

His heart was still racing from that absurd little dance routine. She was rolling through him like a gentle thunderstorm; exhilarating, electrical, innocent and soft and he... he just wanted to dance in the rain. She was the dance, he was the music. She was the noble princess and he was the Dark Prince.

He idly thought back to that first day he met her, when he'd knocked into her and spilled all her groceries on the ground. Something about her had stuck with him. Maybe it was the way she talked, so fresh, so innocent. Maybe it was the way she moved, always falling down and tripping over things yet capable of dancing through the streets. Maybe it was because she said she wanted to marry the Pirate King's son and that gave him a good laugh.

But for real, what made him stick around and hang out with her that whole summer was probably the fact that she treated him like he was a normal guy. She didn't know who he was, who his family was and therefore, had no expectations, no preconceptions about who he was supposed to be. He could just be... him.

Why did she join his crew? Because he was Raion... or because he was the son of the Pirate King?

He needed to get a grip, for crying out loud. What the fuck did it matter the rhyme or reason she joined his crew? She joined because his crew was the best in the world and he invited her for his own reasons.

He rubbed his face. But the way she made him feel...

What was that?

He frowned. Up in the Crow's Nest slash the Library, there was a light on. What was Sabo doing up there?

Distracted from his thoughts about Eevee, he headed up the rope ladder and pushed open the trap. When he did, a pile of books shifted. He caught one before it fell.

"What are you doing up here?" he asked.

Another pile of books shifted and a blonde head appeared, "I'm busy!" Sabo snapped. Raion recognized his tone. He was clearly immersed in some text.

"Can I help?" Raion asked, stepping up the ladder another rung.

"Ya! Go away!" Sabo retorted.

Raion rolled his eyes. Whatever. Sometimes it was best to just let him burn out. He'd come back and collect Sabo's sleeping body after a few days of binge reading.

"I've got it!"

Everyone at the table jumped, even Raion, when Sabo banged into the kitchen the next morning. His arms were ladened with books, which he promptly dumped down in front of Eevee. He swept her plate of food away, ignoring her shocked expression and carefully plucked her fork out of her hands, "I was up aaaaallll night, thinking about you and your fighting style," he did look a little ragged around the edges; hair completely straight up, blue eyes wide and wild and an invigorated, even manic look about him. "It bothered me. What kind of fighter were you? You aren't very offensive, you are too small to be a close combat fighter, I wasn't about to put a sword in your hands..."

He babbled on and on as he hurriedly stacked the books in piles around her, seemingly knowing the organization of it all. No one said anything to him, not even Margherita. Everyone just watched him, food forgotten.

"... then it hit me and I thought 'that's it! That's what she can do!' and I came up with THIS!" he stopped, breathing a little quick with excitement and gestured with his arms at the spread before him and Eevee. About forty books surrounded her seat, a dozen or so of them opened up to particular pages.

At this point, Raion got up, his curiosity peaked. He stood next to Sabo, behind Eevee's chair and studied the opened books with the keen eye of a navigator. Some books featured certain plants, some had diagrams of small weapons like knifes and little star-shaped things. He picked up a book and read a passage quickly as his first mate started talking again, a mile a minute.

"I wanted to play to your strengths, ya know? You're small and graceful and that makes you quick. With training, I could have you doing any number of acrobatics. And you're a botanist so you know lots of plants and of course, you come from a family of skilled apothecaries so you have all this knowledge on how to make shit..."

"A ninja?" Raion interrupted Sabo, pointing to a paragraph in a book, "You want her to be a ninja?" Ninja were extremely rare and highly and precisely trained, like the samurai. They had a special, coveted island that was isolated from the rest of the world where they trained in secret. As much was known about the ninja as was about the samurai, that is to say, not much.

"Not JUST a ninja!" Sabo exclaimed excitedly, "I want her to be a femme fatal." he pointed to different books as he spoke, "A stealth fighter. Kunai knives, shuriken throwing stars, smoke bombs, poisons, sleep draughts, pepper sprays, paralyzer potions... she can make them and I'll teach her to use them! You can make these, right? Right?" he finally glanced at her, as if seeking confirmation but not waiting for it, "And Margherita can whip up a few of these knives and stars, right, Margherita?"

She huffed and shrugged noncommittally.

"Settled!" he proclaimed. He swept up some books and dropped them in Eevee's arms, "Okay! Let's go! Bring these to your office and then change to workout. Fast, fast!"

Evelyn stumbled to her feet, struggling not to tumble over from the weight of the books, and glanced frantically from Raion and Sabo's faces down to the books she carried. A femme fatal...? That sounded much more deadly than she could possibly be. When she'd decided to become a pirate, she knew she was never going to be the most feared and deadly pirate because being lethal had never been one of her strongpoints, to say the least. Becoming a pirate had always been about the freedom it afforded.

Still, if Sabo thought she could become more of an asset to the crew by learning these skills, then Evelyn would try her hardest to master them.

Even if it was a little overwhelming.

"Um, alright then," Evelyn said slowly as she nodded her head. "Sounds like a solid plan." Her voice betrayed her skepticism about being able to do all of the things he'd just pointed out for her, but she was willing to try anyways. Resolute, with her shoulders square and her chin up, Evelyn marched from the kitchen, leaving her plate half uneaten and forgotten in the heat of the moment.

Twenty minutes later, Evelyn was standing on the deck in a pair of shorts and a loose shirt that she was borrowing from Margherita. Her long hair was up in a ponytail, which swayed gracefully every time she took a step. Margherita was also there, leaning against the mast and watching the violet-eyed girl from under her messy bangs.

When Evelyn started stretching out her sore muscles, Margherita snorted and shook her head, pushing away from the mast and heading towards the front of the ship. Evelyn turned her head to follow the girl's retreat with her eyes, wondering why it was that she just couldn't seem to get Margherita to like her.

She wanted all of her nakama to feel like family, and it bothered Evelyn greatly to see that the girl clearly didn't think so highly of her.

Sighing, she dropped down to stretch her legs out, bending in half and laying her torso across the top of her leg, her other one bent and tucked into her side. More than being sore, Evelyn felt like her whole body was stiff from the previous day's training. "Alright...I'm ready for this..." she announced.

Breakfast ended abruptly after Sabo's dramatic entrance. Raion went to his room to grab the map he was working on and a few fine tipped tools to bring out onto the deck. He did not want to miss whatever training Sabo was going to put Eevee through. The man was wired from lack of sleep and it was certain to be entertaining.

He settled down in the corner, watching as she warmed up, her long auburn hair almost fiery in the sun, swaying in the ponytail she had it in. She was very pretty, with her hair pulled back away from her face like that. He hoped that she'd choose to wear it like that more often.

Sabo was restless, moving around constantly while she stretched her muscles and he jumped right to it the moment she announced she was ready. Raion listened while he put some minute details on his drawing.

"Here's how I want to tackle this!" he fired away, walking around and around her, "I want to build your foundation. A steady fighting foundation is crucial. Nothing in this world stands without a solid, unshakeable base. Kicking, punching, footwork, blocks, that's sorta stuff. That's first!" he ticked off his fingers as he continued to circle her, his gestures and movement becoming increasing more rapid. "Next, defense work. I want you to be evasive. You. Must. Never. Get. Caught." He enunciated each word clearly, "You get caught, you die. Understood? Some guy Raion's size," Raion glanced up expectantly when he heard his name to see Sabo pointing at him, "Catches you and pins you to the ground or by your throat, you are too small to fight him off," Raion nodded in agreement before focusing on his map once again, a smile toying over his lips.

"But your size is an advantage too. There's not much of you to catch to begin with," Sabo continued, lecturing her and telling her exactly what they were going to be working on. Basics. Defense work. Specialized training with the kunai knives and throwing stars called shiruken. Using smoke bombs and poisons and sleep draughts when it was advantageous. Raion listened, working on his map and it was probably fifteen minutes before Sabo finally stopped talking.

"The most important thing for you is speed. It plays into everything you will be trained for," Sabo finished, "For example… SENCHOU!"

Raion glanced up again, brow raised, "What?"

"Come here."

His eyes narrowed suspiciously, "… why?"

"Because I need you for demonstration purposes."

Translation: I-need-to-show-off-my-speed-versus-your-Haki-and-punch-you-in-the-face-to-prove-a-point.

Raion sighed and stood, leaving his two swords on the ground next to his map. He wasn't gonna need them for this. Only because he truly loved Sabo was he gonna go through with this. And it helped that they now had a lovely doctor to tend to whatever wounds he was about to receive.

"Take our captain for example," Sabo gestured to Raion's figure when Raion came to stand next to him, "Big, strapping guy. Solid," he pounded Raion on the chest, "Over six feet and probably twice your weight. All three types of Haki. Expert in hand-to-hand and swordplay. He's an incredible fighter. No one on the ocean right now can beat him. Ever."

Raion bore this with the patience of a saint. He was not looking forward to nursing a black eye for the rest of the day.

"However, if you're fast enough, even you can take out the Dark Prince." Sabo smiled and clapped his hands together, eyes a little wild and manic. "Watch and learn."

Raion sighed heavily and turned to face his best friend, focusing on him completely. Sabo came at him and as if they had well rehearsed this fight, Raion twisted, twitched and contorted his body and every single one of Sabo's punches missed him. Sabo got faster. Raion could see the movements play out in his mind before they happened. Faster. Faster. It was a blur in his vision, but in his mind, each move was clear and concise. Right hook, left uppercut, spin, right backfist, left undercut, step, spinning hook kick…

Faster.

Faster.

There it was. He saw the combo before it happened, but Sabo moved so fast that just because Raion saw it coming didn't mean he had the speed to avoid it. He missed the left jab followed by the right hook and he saw the turning kick coming but he couldn't back up fast enough to avoid it…

Clap.

The sound was loud in his brain as the ball of Sabo's foot collided with his right cheek and sent him reeling across the deck. He managed to catch himself on his feet in a crouch with a hand braced against the wood, the other cupping his swelling face. When he stopped sliding, he took a deep breath in and shook his head slowly. He was gonna throw that kid in the ocean someday.

Sabo dusted off his hands and turned to Eevee again, "That is why speed is so important." He commented, "Come, let's do your basics."

Evelyn's mouth popped open and a squeak of surprise emerged when Raion went flying back from a punch that Sabo threw so fast, she couldn't even see it. "Sabo!" She cried, completely taken back by the fact that he'd just punched his own captain. "You didn't have to hit him, I would have believed you had you simply informed me of the fact," Evelyn said haughtily, completely ignoring Sabo's eager look to get started.

Evelyn hurried past Sabo, casting him a disapproving frown, and went after Raion to check on him. She knelt down next to him and reached a hand to tenderly touch the back of his hand that was covering his face. "Are you alright? I can't believe that your first mate just hit you!" Evelyn said, her voice both aghast and concerned at the same time.

A deep laugh sounded from nearby, and Evelyn's head came up to see that Titus was striding past them on the deck, carrying wood and other shipwright supplies. His laughter died down to chuckles as he walked past, shaking his head in amusement. "Sabo and the senchou get into it all the time. Feel free to slug Raion whenever you'd like, the rest of us seem to."

Evelen's mouth, if possible, fell open even more. "Truly? Why, that is terribly beastly...you all just strike each other, and it's not mutiny?" she asked, eyes wide as she looked from Sabo to Titus to Raion.

"Mutiny? That's showing affection," Titus said in his deep, quiet voice, a smirk on his lips. He readjusted the wood over his shoulder, then headed around a corner, leaving without any sort of farewell. Evelyn gaped after him.

He was really quite fine. He'd received far harder blows in his life, some of which had come from Sabo himself. This… this was nothing.

But her concern was touching and when she rushed over to kneel in front of him, exclaiming at the incivility of it all, he wasn't ashamed to admit that he milked it a little. Just a little.

Raion flinched when she touched the back of his hand and gingerly, he moved it so that she could inspect his light bruise. Then, when she turned to talk to Titus as he was walking by, Raion stuck his tongue out at Sabo and pulled his bottom eye lid down with one finger. His first mate gaped at him for a solid heartbeat, looking downright mortified by Raion's behavior before he starting laughing. Really laughing, so hard that he had to grab his knees to keep from falling over.

When Eevee turned her attention back to Raion, he immediately cut the face out and assumed his best "poor baby" face.

"I get no respect around here," he pouted.

"You are your mother's child," Sabo finally was able to gasp out, wiping tears from his eyes.

Raion grinned. Nami was the best at knowing exactly how to get anything she wanted and doing it flawlessly. He'd learned from the best, or else, he wouldn't have survived his household. And who was gonna call him out for milking a little one-on-one attention from the lovely Doctor Evelyn after he was drop kicked in the face by his best friend?

That's right. No one, because he was the fucking captain.

"Eevee, leave that lying, two-faced dog to lick his own wounds," Sabo chuckled, "He's playing you like a piano right now."

Raion laughed, "I'm fine," he reassured her, clucking under her chin with his finger, "Get on with your training. I'll be interested to see how you progress." He winked at her.

Evelyn blinked up at Raion in confusion, then turned her gaze back to Sabo before returning to study Raion. Playing her like a piano?

A pink blush popped up in her cheeks when he chucked her under the chin and winked at her, and Evelyn lost all interest in trying to figure out what they meant. Instead, she dutifully turned back to Sabo in an effort to keep her blush from being so obviously observed.

She hated how easily he affected her. It made being a serious pirate very difficult when he kept making her blush all the time like a silly lady.

She was trying to get away from that facade.

Four days passed in much the same manner. In the morning, Evelyn would wake up to the sound of Sabo pounding on her door. Margherita, who often slept quite late into the day, would hiss unpleasantly and pull her covers over her head in annoyance, so Evelyn had made it a priority to try and be ready for Sabo, but the man didn't ever seem to sleep.

After training, which almost always went right up to lunch, she spent the rest of the day learning how the ship worked, what kind of duties she'd be responsible for on a daily basis, and what the daily habits of many of her nakama were.

In addition to this, Evelyn had slowly been organizing and preparing her new doctors office. Her first mission had been to create as much antivenin as possible for Margherita's poison, even going so far as to ensuring that everyone's room and deck on the ship had a vial stashed away in some known location, just in case.

She also spent much of her time studying her books, eager to become an even better apothecary and doctor for her crew. In her family, it was always assumed that she'd succeed her mother in the shop, but the plants and ailments needed to treat nobles and townsfolk varied from those needed predominantly by pirates and sailors. She started learning about underwater plants too, knowing that the twin fishmen could fetch her such plants if needed.

Often, Evelyn would be so exhausted from her day that she barely remembered her head hitting the pillow, but by the fourth night, she could tell that her stamina was increasing. Not only was she less tired in the evenings, she began to feel restless.

Two more nights passed, and the restless feeling continued to grow. It wasn't until she passed by the weights room one day, with music pouring out as Margherita worked out, that she figured out what her body had been itching to do.

Dance.

All her life, Evelyn had been a dancer. Always, she'd danced for her family, for her lessons, and for social functions, but of all of the things her nobility had required her to learn and perfect, dancing had been the least tedious. In fact, Evelyn had come to find that she _loved_ dancing. Not as much as she desired to be a free pirate roaming the oceans, but enough to know that her body sang with delight when she moved to the beat of music.

So that night, when all of the lights were out and everyone had been asleep for hours, Evelyn crept up to the deck with a small music player that she'd brought with her. She wore a simple white gown, the plainest one she owned, and left her feet bare and tied her long hair up into a bun.

After several minutes of abated silence as she waited on deck, wondering if anyone would happen upon her, Evelyn finally let the music play. The volume was turned way down low, only loud enough for her ears to barely pick it up, but she didn't want anyone to find out that she did such a silly, noble-like thing as dancing in the middle of the night.

With a happy sigh as the notes drifted up into the air, mingling with the sound of the waves lapping at the sides of the ship, Evelyn moved into the center of the deck.

"One, two, three, four...One, two, three, four..." she whispered quietly as she counted out the beats. As the beginning of the dancing segment approached, she lifted her arms and stood up on her toes...and began to dance.

The first few days following new nakama were always pretty exciting. Teaching someone the new ropes of the ship, getting the routine down, becoming accustomed to hearing a new voice chorusing through the rooms, it was all very fun. It was a little different with Eevee than it had been for the other members of the crew. Margherita, Zeke and Titus had been part of the criminal persuasion before joining the Black Mambas.

With Eevee, everything was extremely new. It made having her both entertaining and at times frustrating. But she was a quick study and by the end of the first week at sea, she was starting to really fit right in. She worked out with Sabo in the mornings, had some lunch then disappeared into her office for hours. Zeke seemed to be warming up to her more – though he didn't speak much to anyone to begin with – and started paying attention to her food preferences. Raion had even seen him bring her a drink to her office. Titus, ever a little softer towards human women in particular, had built her more shelves in her office and even made her a lawn chair so she could sit out in the sun. Sabo found her to be an absolute gem – not hard for him, he loved everyone. And Margherita… well… she was scarcely to be found near Eevee if it could be helped. Raion wasn't entirely sure what her beef was, but he vibed that it was a little bit of misplaced envy. Eevee was a cultured princess and Margherita had been orphaned, dirty and partially homeless before becoming a pirate.

And he… he couldn't get enough of her. Every time she was on the deck training with Sabo, he found some reason to be out there, just watching her. Watching the way she moved, how she talked, her mannerisms, feeling her emotional state. At mealtimes, he watched how she acted with the crew, how she laughed at Sabo's slightly maniacal behavior, how she coaxed conversation out of Titus, even pulled a few nods from Zeke and how she handled Margherita's aggravating aggression like a champ. Her class and naïveté balanced out his rag-tag bunch of criminals he called nakama. He wondered how long she could maintain that before they corrupted her.

Before he corrupted her.

It had been just about a week since they set out from Sabaody for Shadow Stone Island for that damned rock that Rouge wanted so badly. The wind was against them and they were still a day away at least. She had already called this afternoon, demanding to know what the fuck was taking him so long.

"I could've made the trip myself by now!" she'd nearly shouted at him through the transponder snail, "Hell, if I didn't need so damned much of it, I would have!"

Needless to say, that phone call had made his mood a little more foul.

Now, it was late. Everyone was in bed, even Sabo and Raion was still up, his desk lamp burning as he sat there, contemplating his map. He was kinda just looking at it, chin pillowed on his arms and flicking the pen up the drafting table, then watching roll back down to his fingers before flicking it again. He really needed to get the notes he had for it from where they were strewn about his bed, but he was kinda too lazy to move…

Something pricked his ears. He froze, hand snatching out to stop the movement of the pen so he could listen. Nothing. He could've sworn he'd heard something. Who was on watch duty tonight? Oh right… him.

He stood and headed for his door, grabbing his swords on the way and tucking them in his sash. No one ever bothered them on the ocean; even the marines gave him a wide berth most of the time, but it was always, always better to be prepared than sorry later.

The captain's room was on the top deck at the bow of the ship. He opened his door silently, his bare feet making no noise and peered around. All seemed to be pretty quiet…

No. He heard it again. A noise. Then another. Immediately, he recognized it as music. His eardrums could pick up music notes like no one else's could. It was way too late for anyone to be listening to music.

He crept to the railing and looked out onto the main deck. When he saw her move, he instantly hunkered down, so as not to be seen.

It was Eevee, all by herself on the deck, barefoot and wearing a long white dress. She was dancing. There was a music player sitting near the foremast.

It was… it wasn't just dancing. Well, it wasn't any type of dance he'd ever seen. It looked as though it could be a medley of all the dances or perhaps none at all. She flitted in and out of his line of sight, so, silent as a shadow, he crawled across the deck until he reached the top of the stairs and slid into the corner to watch her.

No words could have been written or spoken that would describe how she moved. She moved like something out of a dream, her body the very definition of grace. Now, he knew some incredibly graceful people; his aunt Mara, for perfect example who was made of water. Mara simply moved as if it was never any effort. This… this was completely different. There was rhythm to the way Eevee moved, but more than that, there was intention without there actually being any intent. As if her body simply moved, gravity and muscle resistance nonwithstanding. He couldn't peg it down. It was… breathtaking.

He couldn't take his eyes off her. Minutes, hours, days, he could have sat in the shadowy corner of the stairs, watching her forever. She moved with substance, more than just water, but like mercury. He found himself counting out the beats and had to actively stop himself from tapping his toes against the deck wood. The music was less than a whisper, but it didn't matter. She danced like she was dancing to the music in his head, or perhaps he was thinking up music to the way she danced.

His fingers itched. What he would give to sneak down there, rip the tarp off the deck piano and play something for her to dance to? Surely, he'd startle the every living shit out of her, so he refrained. He didn't want her to stop. So he sat in his corner, watching.

Evelyn danced for over an hour that first night, in a state of meditative calm that helped center herself after days of new and often exhausting events. It was that night that she realized that becoming a pirate didn't mean she had to let go of everything from her past life. She had to accept her roots and where she came from, and let those experiences enrich the life she was choosing to live now.

Dancing was one thing she never wanted to stop doing, she knew.

From that night on, Evelyn snuck out every night to dance, no matter how sore she was from her training with Sabo. If she was tired, her dancing would only last for a couple of songs; some nights, however, found her dancing for close to two hours as she let the music carry her across the deck in her bare feet in endless turns and spins.

During the day, her training continued with progress that was slow to start, then picked up exponentially once she'd built the base muscles for fighting instead of dancing. She learned that her speed and agility would be her greatest advantages in a confrontation, but that she was essentially dead if she ever got caught.

Sabo decided that this was something that needed to be addressed in their training, and soon Titus and Zeke became more actively involved. They followed Sabo's instructions of making grabs and in pinning her down, then instructed her on ways to evade and disentangle herself from opponents who get the upper hand on her.

In terms of weapons training, Evelyn spent some time practicing with the weapons available, but Margherita continued to procrastinate in making proper stealth weapons for her, despite Sabo's frustration. Evelyn didn't particularly mind, since using weapons was the most foreign part of learning to fight for her, and she wasn't particularly keen on putting lethal things in her hands when she had close to no training in them.

That morning, they were only half a day's sail to their destination, and Sabo seemed particularly restless, and perhaps a little moody, that morning. Evelyn watched him from under her lashes as she did her stretches, wondering if he felt she wasn't ready for the challenge of potentially being in a dangerous situation.

As Sabo called Raion over, Evelyn slowly straightened, her eyes bouncing between the two. Her terrible suspicions were confirmed moments later when Sabo announced that Raion would be her sparring partner for the morning.

Her reaction was similar to his.

"What?" she asked, somewhat incredulously, at the exact same time that Raion spoke. Her protest, however, went ignored as Sabo insisted that it was the right thing to do.

Evelyn's eyes slid back to Raion as they spoke. It was true, there was no greater adversary that she could think of than him, except perhaps his family, but that was all the more reason why she shouldn't be facing off against him.

She was definitely going to lose.

When he turned a wicked look to her, she swallowed hard. But instead of feeling nervous or afraid, a sense of determination rose in her chest again. Out of everyone, this man believed that she could be a pirate. He wouldn't have let her join if he didn't think she could do it. Out of everyone, it was him that she had to prove herself to; it was him that she couldn't let down.

"Alright..." she said slowly, nodding her head as she lowered her stance a little and spread her legs. "You probably can do that...but I'm not gonna make it easy." A small smile flickered over her lips as she answered the wicked gleam in his eye with a teasing one in hers.

She was fast, agile, and had excellent balance. She needed to rely on those strong points to stay out of his grasp as long as possible.

"Ready? Start!" Sabo called with a large grin on his face. He hurriedly stepped back away from the center of the deck, giving them space.

Evelyn nodded briskly, then took off, her legs bending, her calves bunching, her bare toes gripping the deck like a gecko's. She shot to the side, winging around to his back, and when she was less than three feet from his back, she dropped down into a slide, kicking her foot out at the last moment to catch him behind the knees. Just as quickly, she rolled away, catching herself on her knees and bounding up to make an escape.

Now, he knew a lot of things going into this little sparring match. He knew, for one, that he vastly outranked her in fighting ability. Which was fine, because he didn't plan to cream her. The idea was to genuinely try to capture her and push her skills so that she could grow, but not take her out in thirty seconds. He knew this.

He also knew right about where her ability was and how far she'd already come in the week and some change that she'd been employed on his ship. She was a quick study and Sabo was a fantastic teacher. It was why Raion had chose him to train her; Sabo had oodles of patience, oodles of fighting skill and a very, very sharp mind. Even sleep-deprived, he was one of the smartest people Raion had ever known.

He knew all these things... but he was still unprepared for her.

She was extremely quick, which was impressive and very helpful. Sabo had drilled into her head that the best type of fighting for her was "get in, get out, get lost". Because of her, mmm... frailty - one, maybe two hits and she'd be down for the count - it was best for her to not linger within the grabbing space of her opponent.

She did just that. She came around the back of him and slid into a trip kick that forced him to back-hand spring out of her way. Immediately, she was out of his range and on her feet.

He laced his fingers and stretched them out away from his body, "That was better than I expected," he commented, grinning, "How are you on defense?"

He went after her this time, charging her. She was nimble, for sure, years of her dancing evident as she twisted and turned and arched out of his grasp. He'd wager about sixty present of the opportunities he had to catch her, he tried to and every time, she evaded him. In the corner of his eye, he could see Sabo nodding in approval. He was impressed as well, that every time she jumped out of his catch, she also countered with a damage-dealing move of her own. Raion made it a point to physically block her attacks rather than simply dodge, wanting her to also learn and notice that she was, in fact, capable of dealing damage. Had he been a bit more stupid and bumbling like most grabby pirate men who she'd ever be up against, she'd have hit him a handful of times.

After a little while of the dip-and-dodge routine, Sabo got aggravated, "Catch her, already!" he demanded, "I have another technique I wanna show her!"

Raion spun and dipped, his fingertips brushing the back of her thigh as she danced away from him, "You didn't say catch her!" he replied, "You said try!"

"Well! Try harder!"

He rolled his eyes and went after her again, putting a little more behind it. This time, instead of just missing her, he wrapped his hands around her knees and she went crashing to the ground belly-first. He sat up on his knees and yanked her towards him; she twerked her body around and reclaimed one of her legs and kicked out at him with what appeared to be everything she had. He dodged and caught her ankle, a gleeful chuckle that may have sounded a little evil slipping out of him at her expense. He felt a little... male satisfaction in knowing that he totally had her but she was still fighting him tooth-and-nail to get away.

She leaned forward, her left hand extended towards him, fingers curled like she was automatically seeking to grab a tee shirt that wasn't there and her right hand pulled back to deliver a solid punch. He switched his grip fast, sacrificing the hold he had behind her knee in favor for her wrist. The position was strange; he had her right ankle by his shoulder and her left wrist in his grip with her ass still planted on the deck.

Using his feet, he rocked her back so that his body weight was keeping her in place. But he didn't relinquish the hold he had on her wrist or her leg, instead sliding his hand from her ankle to behind her knee and pressing her knee to her shoulder. Sure, she had a free hand to claw his back or grab his hair and yank, but without the leverage of both her legs, she couldn't flip him over.

He stretched her other arm way above her head, bringing his face merely inches from hers, "Gotcha," he said, smiling.

Everything happened so fast that Evelyn felt a little spark of panic in her chest when Raion finally caught her, an irrational, instinctual panic that forgot it was her own captain catching her and not some thug. Her heart was pounding and her lungs were burning for oxygen, especially since he'd knocked the wind out of her when he'd brought her crashing down to the deck.

His imaginary thumb knife tickled the sensitive skin of her throat, and her eyes flickered downward for a moment, allowing her to take in the full situation with her eyes; Raion had her completely pinned, his much larger body straddling her hips, his superior weight keeping her from being able to wiggle. Her hands were stretched out above her head, leaving her torso exposed and vulnerable to many nasty attacks.

He definitely had got her.

"My, you are very strong, senchou...how did I do?" Evelyn asked, turning her attention back up to his face. His black hair had fallen around his face, shadowing it and making him seem even more sinister. A shiver raced down her spine, involuntarily, and her awareness of him suddenly skyrocketed.

Her vulnerability to him right now was more than just nerve-wracking...it was a little stimulating too. The way he had her arms pinned up above her head was somehow erotic, and forced his body to stretch out overs hers slightly, lining their bodies up in an unmistakable way.

Two pink dots blossomed over her cheeks, but Evelyn tried to keep her expression under control. It was very hard when all she could do was smell his musky scent and feel the heat of his heavier body above her. She was even disconcerted to find that the pressure of his weight was rather enjoyable, now that the panic of being caught like a deer was over.

Warmth tingled in her belly, and it felt like her world narrowed a little, right down to the two of us. She realized she was holding her breath in anticipation, and while she told herself it was for his answer, for his appraisal of her newfound skills, a part of her knew she was waiting for something...more. Something she couldn't name.

"A-am I good enough to join you on the island?" Evelyn stammered, trying to bring her focus back to the situation at hand. The appropriate situation, not the one bubbling up from her fantasies.

It was something in her voice that changed the energy of the moment. It wasn't husky or seductive or anything like that. She didn't whisper or change her tone. In fact, he was certain that no one else heard what he heard.

The slightly breathless way she said his title: "Senchou..."

Totally slipped over him like a hot and steamy balm and jacked his blood pressure through the roof. He hadn't been immediately aware of it, but now it became very apparent how they were positioned. In fact, all they had to do was change the alignment of their hips and...

Holy fuck. He wanted to kiss her. Wanted to bad. Wanted to drop his body against hers, feel her narrow frame pressed up against his, taste her, kiss her senseless.

He almost did too. The hand that was against her throat slid up until he cupped her cheek and he traced his thumb over her lower lip.

But they had an audience and her question came back to him, though it was a struggle to think about it when all he could really remember was "senchou..."

"You did fantastic," he said, his voice a little softer, just for her to hear, "Had I been a bit more brutish, you might've escaped." Then, the part of him that said 'fuck it' to their onlookers, he leaned down and said right in her ear, "But you didn't..."

"Awww! I see the island..." Sabo's disappointed voice drifted over them, extinguishing the moment, "We'll have to cut training short today..."

Raion popped up off her smoothly and held out a hand to tug her swiftly to her feet, "Go change into something sturdy," he told her, "We'll be hiking to mine the rock."

He rattled off some quick orders to the others to prepare to make land and glanced in the direction of the island, which was steadily becoming less and less of a smudge on the horizon and more of a distinct shape and size. A breeze ruffled through his hair and his eyes shifted up. Deceptively light clouds were rolling around, but he could smell the rain despite them. Over the edge of the ship, the waves rolled and tumbled in their typical pattern, but he knew the difference.

"It's gonna rain later!" he shouted, "Let's be quick about this!"

Evelyn's whole world had narrowed down to the space between her and Raion as he leaned closer down to her. His whispered words in her ear sent shivers of warmth down her spine, and her fingers curled inwards involuntarily. It wasn't until he got off of her that she realized she'd been holding her breath.

It would explain why she was dizzy all of a sudden, for one thing.

Evelyn sat up slowly after Raion got off of her. After he'd pinned her, the private moment between them had sizzled and popped like a hot fire in her blood, and she struggled to put herself back into the mentality of working the ship.

Looking over at Raion, he seemed perfectly normal and in control of things, and Evelyn wondered if she'd just imagined the tension between them. Shaking her head at her own silliness, she pushed herself to her feet, and went to change out of her training clothes.

It took them only a few hours to reach the small island. The closer they got, the more visible the black cloud was that billowed up from the top of the active volcano, signaling the predominant danger inherent to the island.

Evelyn felt her nerves start to jangle as they pulled up to the shore that was furthest from the active peak. Since this would be her first true mission as a pirate, she'd asked Margherita to borrow some of her clothes, fearing that her skirts were likely to get caught on something or otherwise prove to be a hinderance. While Margherita had doled over a pair of pants and a loose shirt, she hadn't been happy about it. In fact, she'd been even colder to Evelyn than normal within the last couple of days, around the time that Evelyn had started dancing. She wondered if the girl had found out about her nightly escapades, and if she was disturbing the girl by doing so, but Evelyn always made sure to make as little noise as possible when she left the room.

"Don't ruin my clothes. When we reach the next port, go buy your own," was Margherita's growled words when the clothes were exchanged.

Evelyn sighed, resting her chin on her folded arms and turned her head slightly to see the small girl as she knelt down by an open back, busy shoving weapons and supplies into it. The teams had already been decided by Raion; Sabo and Titus would go together, Zeke and Margherita would comprise the second team, and Raion would be with Evelyn. Though Evelyn was secretly pleased with the arrangement, she'd seen the look of anger and hostily on Margherita's face when Raion had made the announcement. Evelyn had a sneaking suspicion that the girl had wanted to be with their captain, and while Evelyn would have gladly give up her spot for the sake of making friends with the one nakama who seemed to hate her, she had no say in the matter. Raion had made it clear that she would be with him because she was the weakest link.

"We have only a few hours before it's too dark to safely mine the rock, so be quick!" Sabo yelled as she approached the edge of the ship, shouldering a backpack. Evelyn straightened from the railing she'd been leaning on, feeling a prickle of excitement in her chest as she watched Sabo and Titus disemark. Her eyes flickered over to Raion, her partner, and she picked up her own backpack.

In the few hours it took to finally anchor just off the coast of Shadow Stone Island, the sky had grown lightly overcast. The light gray of the sky only added to the ominous tone of the island itself, what with the black, ash-filled clouds that circled the active volcanic mouth.

Raion had chosen to separate everyone into teams to faster execution of the mission. And he had chosen to pair himself with the lovely Doc Eevee. He told the crew that it was because she was the weakest link and it was best fitted for her to be with the captain and that really was the truth. It wasn't all the truth, but it was the truth.

She was waiting by the railing when he emerged from his room. He'd changed into loose black pants, his boots and a plain blue tee-shirt. Around his right bicep was his black bandana and around his hips was his blue sash with his two swords tucked securely into it. He was glad to see that she was wearing something similar - probably borrowed from an irate Margherita - a loose white shirt that dipped to one side, revealing a bare shoulder and a pair of tight pants tucked into her heeled boots she wore the first night he'd re-met her. Her long hair was pulled back and the way she was leaning on the railing, he could see the lacing of her corset up her spine.

It was... it was a very different look for her. He was so used to seeing her in frilly dresses that seeing her actually in something a pirate princess would wear was a little startling. In a good way, if the way his heart jumped into his throat was any indication.

And he got to look at her allllll afternoon. Score.

She turned towards him when he approached and shouldered her pack. He grabbed his and grinned at her, "You look ready to rock." he told her, nodding his chin to indicate her outfit choice. He tried not to think about what he knew was under it. Corset and curves, that not hours ago was underneath him. Pinned to the deck. Inches from kissing...

All afternoon, huh?

"Got everything you need in there?" he asked, changing the subject to distract his mind. He turned her to look into her pack. Basic first-aid supplies and a few little herbs and plants, "Maybe you'll find some plants or minerals here to add to your collection."

Sabo, Margherita and the twins jumped overboard, landing in the waist-high shallows. Margherita was perched on Zeke's shoulders, keeping her safely out of the sea water that was her bane. Raion hopped on the railing and held out his hand for Eevee's. When she placed hers hesitantly in his, he tugged her up, scooped her up behind the knees and jumped overboard too.

He placed her on her own feet when they hit the sand and he turned to his nakama, "Back here by nightfall. Don't be late; it's gonna rain."

They all turned their eyes skyward, investigating the clouds before the twins nodded and Sabo gave him an "aye, aye". Margherita said nothing.

Everyone headed out to their predetermined locations to fill their packs with the coveted snowy white obsidian. Raion and Eevee were headed to the old mining tunnels in the north; highly dangerous and extremely volatile territory. The deep rumblings from the volcano had caused so many of the inner tunnels to collapse and trap the miners that that was why they'd had to shut down back in the day. And the activity of the volcano made the island uninhabitable nowadays.

At least, that was the story. They were gonna check out the tunnels for themselves.

Evelyn shouldered her backpack somewhat nervously as she peered up and down the black-sand beach that they stood on. This would be her first dangerous mission as a pirate, and perhaps the only reason she wasn't more nervous was because she was partnered up with Raion. He was quite dashing looking, in his black pants and blue shirt. She thought his sash made him look even more like an exotic pirate from distant lands, a look that was furthered him his dark mop of hair and his slashing eyes.

Just looking at him made her stomach clench and sent excited shivers down her spine, not merely for how attractive he was, but for the fact that he screamed 'pirate,' and it reminded her that she was a part of _his_ crew. This magnificent pirate was her _nakama_.

Which was likely why she wasn't as scared as she should be, considering how dangerous this little mission was. He exuded a sense of confidence that kept her knees from knocking together every time the volcano belched loudly up in the darkened sky.

She'd wanted to be a pirate, after all. She knew danger came with the territory.

Pulling in a deep breath to center herself, she found that well of courage that her parents had always scorned as being unlady-like, and squared her shoulders. As the rest of the crew dispersed, Evelyn looked in the northerly direction, the direction they were headed.

"Our direction certainly appears to be the most...ornery..." Evelyn commented slowly, trying to keep the dryness from her voice. She let out a puff of air that blew a loose strand of hair free from her face, and started walking towards the angry looking volcano. "But it shan't defeat me!" she announced triumphantly, and grinned, her eyes glittering with mirth as she glanced back at him. "This is what being a pirate is all about, isn't it? Getting this...rush...from living so dangerously? I quite like it," she giggled, and wondered if her giggle wasn't a little tinged with nervousness.

He laughed at her actions. On the outside, she looked like she was handling herself well, but her aura was screaming "I'm scared out of my mind". This was likely the single most dangerous adventure she'd ever even come close to having.

"Hold onto that... rush..." he told her, striding forward and taking her hand to tug her along, "You're gonna want it when we go into the volcano." his grin was devilish as he led the way to the northern tunnels.

In theory, the mission was easy. They would go and explore the tunnels, collect some of the white obsidian from deep within and then get out. The only real danger they might encounter is the tunnels collapsing and trapping them in the bowels of the mountain. It was because of the risk that Raion had chosen to take this route. The twins Fishmen Karate was too invasive and destructive to be used where the job was delicate by nature.

He led the way along the rocky coastline and up the cliffs. The going was a little rough and he was grateful for her sturdier footwear and pants. As it was, she slipped a fair few times and he felt like he had a nervous twitch in his neck from how often he'd twist around to glance at her. He'd known, though, that she'd be a liability, hadn't he, and still he'd deliberately selected her as his partner.

Maybe he was just a sucker for her.

Every few minutes, the volcano would rumble, sometimes low and subtle and sometimes so loud and deep that the rocks below their feet would tremble and the rubble would dance and skitter. He wondered if it would erupt while they were here. That would be chaos. But Rouge said she hadn't heard of it erupting in quite a few months. Raion wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing; it could mean the mountain was due for an explosion soon.

He didn't share these thoughts with Eevee.

Once they arrived at the northern reaches of the island, they passed through a very small, very dilapidated old mining town at hugged the coast. Wind rattled rotting shutters and doors and as the mountain rumbled deep and loud as thunder, roofing tiles of the purest white stone clattered to the ground. It was eerie.

They passed by this though, not having any business with the town and just on the outskirts, the old trailhead came into sight that led to the equally old tunnels. They passed a few more buildings, probably having once had to do with the shaping, construction and sorting of the rock and soon, the rusted cart tracks and carts. He paused, thinking, before he brushed out the inside of one of the carts, clearing it of debris and spiders before plopping Eevee into it unannounced and a little unceremoniously. He lit the old lantern hanging on the front with some matches from his pack and snagged an extra from another cart.

"We're taking this," he told her, getting behind it and pushing it. It was a little bit stiff and old, but after a couple of feet, the rust flaked off and the ride smoothed out more or less, "We can fill it with rock and then shove it back down here. Then we don't have to hike so far with loads of rocks."

They entered the tunnels just as the volcano rumbled, as if to greet them and a little rubble and dust fell from the rock ceiling. The weak lantern light cast deep shadows around them. Raion pushed Eevee in that little cart, the light from the tunnel entrance becoming smaller and smaller behind them.

As the light receded behind them, Evelyn looked back uneasily, conscious every time the volcano made a sound. The experience was like venturing into the belly of a very large, sleeping giant who occasionally snorted and snored with a deep, rumbling, grating sound. The dust and pebbles that fell from the ceiling made her stomach knot uncomfortably. If anything larger than that came down, they could very well be trapped inside the mine.

A thought which was wholly more terrifying than a slew of murderous pirates facing her down. At least with enemies, they could fight, but Evelyn wasn't too sure if anything could be done if the mountain fell on top of them.

"I hope this obsidian is worth a pretty penny...it should, with the danger we are putting ourselves in to retrieve it. Are we being recompensed for our efforts?" Evelyn inquired, craning her neck around to peer at Raion. "We are doing this for the Dragon Smuggler, correct? My, it's so exciting that you know all of these infamous people. I remember back when she caused a big uproar at Impel Down for the fallen marine of hers...quite a dashing tale, if you ask me. In fact, I almost considered smuggling as a line of work, she inspired me so."

Just then, there was a deeper, more sharply heard rumble directly below them, and Evelen had to stifle a squeak of alarm. It was right about then that she started noticing the rock. There were small veins of it in the tunnel they were passing now, and it gleamed like ghostly pearl in the light of the lantern. The lines were thin so close to the entrance of the mine, but the white was stark against the black rock of the mountain.

"Ooh..." Evelyn breathed, her eyes widened at the sight of it. It was rock, for certain, but it shimmered like glass. She could see why it was so valuable, and this was in it's more unrefined form. "It's lovely..." she murmured, getting up on her knees and moving to the side of the rolling cart to stare more closely at the wall as it went by.

Deeper they pushed on into the mountain until nothing surrounded them but the pressing dark, weakly filtered by an ancient, dim mine lamp. It was just them, miles of rusted track and pounds of rock. An the occasional deep belch of the volcano.

The idea of how easy it would be to become buried and potentially die was a little... daunting. Raion even hedged to say it was a little frightening, though he himself didn't fear anything. He felt a little thrill of excitement thrumming through him.

He shoved that little cart along as Eevee turned the conversation around to Rouge and the 'dashing' tale of Lukas' epic escape from Impel Down, "You realize she's my cousin, right? Her father is... was," he corrected smoothly, "Portgas D. Ace, who was adopted by Garp and raised as Luffy's brother. Rouge was a happy accident." Not far from the truth, considering the first two years or so of Rouge's childhood, Mara-oba raised her alone under the suspicion that Ace had actually died in the Marineford War. Which everyone except a very precious few still believed.

"Smuggling is good business," he commented, "But it's a hard trade to get into. It's..." he fished around in his head for words, "It's... It's not like pirating. Pirating is easy. You get a team together and you go and after that it's just going with the wind. Smuggling is more about who you know. You have to get in with the right people, you have to work independently and you have to be a very powerful fighter," he waved his hand like he was brushing the topic away, "The hierarchy of it is too complex for me. I hate answering to people. I hate being out of control. That's why I'm captain." he grinned.

The conversation continued on about Rouge and Lukas and it was clear in the tone of his voice that he completely idolized the two of them. He told her the story about when he first met Lukas, who was more barbarian than human, trapped on Rouge's cache island for two months because he knew her dirty little secret. About when Raion and Sabo, barely fifteen years old, had heard that Rouge was planning to spring him from prison, they had sneaked abroad the ship so they could join the crusade. He didn't mind story-telling and she was a wonderful audience; gasping in all the right places and asking clarifying questions. It gave them something to do to pass the time as they trucked deeper into the mines.

"You'll meet her and Lukas in a few days," he continued, "When we exchange this precious rock. In fact, you might've seen Lukas before. Remember the bar we met at the other night? The little blonde matron is Lukas' little sister, Gabbi. From what I understand, Lukas and Rouge visit there often..."

Evelyn looked over her shoulder at him, a smile widening her face. "Really? Gabbi always talked about a brother, but I suppose I never put things together. She doesn't talk about her family too much in fact...Rather protective of them, I always figured."

It was about then that she realized that the white obsidian was becoming much more common against the backdrop of black stone. Soon, the railway made to an end, and they were in a widened part of the tunnel that lead down to several different paths, all converging at the end of the railway. Some of the tunnels extended only a few yards back. Clearly, the main mining site was station here, and branched out into the surrounding rock in the areas where the obsidian was thickest.

Evelyn stood up in the cart once it had stopped moving, hopping over the edge until her feet meet with bare earth. She was startled to feel how warm the soil was under her booted feet. She had also noticed a general rise in temperature the deeper into the volcano they went.

"Wow, we must be close to the center of the volcano...I can feel the heat from the molten core," Evelyn breathed, looking around. She shivered a little, wary of the feeling of thousands of pounds of rock surrounding her, including rock that was thousands of degrees in temperature.

She walked up to the stone was glistened white under the light of the lantern, and reached out to touch the smooth, milky surface. "Alright, I suppose we should get to work then. If it's already this hot, I can't imagine how warm we'll be soon."

She dropped her backpack to the ground, turning her head to look at him. "How exactly are we going to extract the rock? I'm not sure how good I'm going to be with a pickax..." she mused, her eyes glittering a little with amusement. "I suppose I never considered how useful I might be in the actual extraction," she added with an apologetic grin.

At last, they reached what looked to be what once was one of the main mining zones. Veins of white, glassy obsidian tracked through the black volcano rock in thick bands. He supposed that if they went even deeper into the volcano belly, the black stone would disappear altogether. If the mountain wasn't active and presenting a high risk, he would've kept going deeper.

This was enough to suit their needs just fine. Besides, the threat of being crushed by tons of rock, the heat of the molten core and the pungent smell of rotting eggs was enough of a deterrent to keep him from adventuring farther.

"We aren't as close as you think," he told her as she jumped out of the cart now that the rail tracks had ended, "The inside of an active volcano can reach upwards of two thousands degrees Fahrenheit. To give you a little perspective, it's probably around ninety degrees in here." They'd have to travel quite a bit farther to reach the very center and at that, the stifling heat would kill them before they even got close.

He joined her over near one of the walls and laid his hand next to hers, feeling the warmth of the smooth white rock under his palm. He popped his pocket knife out of his pocket and scraped it against the stone. It flaked off easily, glistening like thin shards of glass in his hand.

"Alright!" he folded the knife and slipped it back in his pocket, "Doctor, I'm gonna ask you to take a few steps back," he clicked his swords with his thumb, "I'll do the dirty work. You just stand back and look pretty."

Raion drew his swords, two of them. During his childhood, he'd had had every opportunity to learn and study any form of offense he wanted. From guns to swords to close combat, all the Straw Hats had a particular niche they were more than willing to pass on and teach to him. It'd been... well, he remembered it being very challenging as a child to settle on something. A very vivid memory of his was being seven or eight years old and complaining to his mother that he was never gonna be good at anything. He was good at the piano, good at navigating, but those weren't battle skills.

That was the day his mother had marched him back over to his Uncle Zoro's dojo. Raion had complained, saying he didn't like the sword because it felt weird. Tikka-oba had once again tried to put a sword in his hand - just a little wooden bokken - and he'd been abysmal at it. His uncle came over and gave him another bokken for his other hand, balancing him out. He recalled his aunt chastising Zoro, saying "Two swords is too many for a little boy!" Zoro had shrugged, placed a sand-stuffed dummy in front of Raion and said "Kill it."

It had been wonderful.

Both of his swords were gifts from Zoro. They were both meito - high quality katana blades - and both of them Zoro had had for years, swords he'd encountered and kept during his pirating days. One of them was one of the legendary O Wazamono swords; one of the great 21. The blade was black and his uncle had warned him that this particular blade had a bit of a 'dark' personality. Raion wholeheartedly agreed. It was called Osoroshii. His other one was a step down - one of the 50 Ryo Wazamono Grade meito. It was a complacent blade with a ridiculously long name; Yanshuribashi. It was a mouthful. He called it 'Yang'.

Raion twirled his blades and thought for a minute. What should he do? How exactly should he cut the rock to transport it the best? As he contemplated, he was highly aware of Eevee behind him; he could feel her watching him, like she was waiting for something cool.

He sliced, his movements quick and precise. There was a moment's breath... then a layer of white rock fell from the wall and stacked into three perfectly neat piles like stacks of playing cards. Each piece was about the size and thickness of a notebook. Perfect size to tile a floor with.

He turned and grinned at her over his shoulder, "Let's start with this lot, shall we?"

For the next couple of hours, that's all they did. Raion would shave the rock from the wall into neatly sized tiles and together, they'd tuck the tiles into the cart like a big game of Tetris. They filled the cart, both their bags and Raion had carried another cart from one of the other tunnels over to their track and they began to fill that one too. It wasn't hard work, but it was tedious, especially in the suffocating heat of the volcano. After a fashion, he'd stripped out of his shirt and stuffed it into her bag, where there was breathing room because he wasn't sure how much she'd be able to carry.

They had almost filled the second cart. Raion was filthy; his torso covered in a thin sheen of sweat and the dirt clung to him like a second skin. Eevee perched on the top of the first full cart, also a little dirty and a paper fan in her hand in a vain attempt to battle the heat.

That's... that's when things spiraled downward.

It was his fault. Naturally. He was the one wielding the swords, carving an increasingly deeper hole into an active volcano. With a very attractive audience behind him who was easily entertained and easily impressed with his finesse with a sword.

He was guilty of showing off a little too much. And that was probably the main reason for the collapse. That, and an extremely well-timed, deep belly rumble from the volcano that occurred right as his attack made contact with the rock face.

As the rock stacked itself like playing cards in front of him, Raion's mouth popped open in a nice cross between "what the fuck" and "oh shit". A crack snapped into the rock and crept high, high up the wall, higher... he sheathed his swords, eyes wide, tracking the fracture. Higher... across the ceiling. The rumbling didn't stop. The crack widened, branching out. He sensed it before it actually happened, his Haki their only saving grace.

He dive bombed Eevee, right off the cart and rolled away as a huge, HUGE slab of rock fell and smashed the cart she'd been perched on to smithereens. Then... the ceiling fell in. A piece of stray rock caught him in the face and he felt his old scar, the one from Impel Down that tracked near his hairline on the left side of his face down to nick the corner of his eyebrow, burst open. It was the least of his troubles at the moment. He scrambled to his knees and dragged her by the back of her shirt and sandwiched her little body between his and the opposite wall. He tucked her head down as the ceiling not ten feet behind them crumbled in a terrifying, thunderous shower of rock and mineral. Melee rocks flew, a few catching across his shoulders, but fortunately the big ones didn't fall on them.

Then... silence. One heartbeat. Two heartbeat. A clattering of little rocks settling into the gaps. The quiet rang in his ears after the loud collapse.

Carefully, he untangled his body from hers enough so that he could look at her and swipe the blood out of his eye with the back of his hand, "Are you alright?" he asked.

By the time they had the first cart filled and were working on the second, Evelyn had gotten used to the booming, grinding sounds that occasionally came from the volcano. They still made her tense and nervous, but she'd come to trust in the stability of the rocks around her enough to pay more attention to the heavily muscled, sweating man swinging two elegant swords around.

It was quite an enjoyable show, to say the least. She'd never seen him use his weapons in person, and she was more than impressed with his skill and his precision in creating tile-like slabs of the snowy white stone.

She was so occupied with watching Raion-and enjoying it-that her reaction was delayed when the stone suddenly split in tandem with a large rumble from beneath the earth. Her eyes darted around the cavern-like space they were in as the crack crew alarmingly up the face of the rock.

"Senchou..." Evelyn started slowly, nervously.

Then everything happened so fast.

She felt Raion's body slam her from the top of the cart, but didn't have time to react or think. Suddenly she was being pressed up against the side of the wall, his much larger frame surrounding hers in a protective cage that prevented the rocks from tumbling down on her more fragile body. Her scream was muffled by his shirt and chest, her head ducked down, and her fingers dug into his sides as she tried to pull him as closer to her as she could to try and keep him from being pulverized by the rocks raining down.

Then, just as quickly as it began, it was over. The silence was almost as deafening as the tumbling rocks, and her ears rang unpleasantly. It was pitch black now-their lantern had been crushed by a boulder. Evelyn tilted her head back hesitantly, blinking the dust and debris from her eyes.

"I'm alright," she coughed, pushing her hair from her face. She squinted her eyes to try and see him, but it was impossible in the din. She reached up with tentative fingers and sought out his face. "Are you alright? Have you been hurt badly?" She asked the question in that matter because she knew he must have been hurt, in some way. She'd felt his body jerk and shudder when stones had hit his back. Her fingers traveled over his face, finding the cut above his eye.

She let out a dismayed sound, tentatively probing the edges of the wound. It was bleeding badly, but that remained because head-wounds bleed fairly profusely without being overly severe. Her fingers abandoned his face in favor of his shoulders and back, skimming the surface of his skin and discovering all of the little nicks and slices caused by the falling stone. One was fairly severe, running from his right shoulder down across the shoulder blade, but it wasn't life-threatening so long as the bleeding was stopped relatively soon. "You're pretty banged up, Senchou..." she murmured with a tight voice. She kept her mind on him and his condition because she knew the terrible panic about being buried deep underground that was threatening to emerge in her chest.

The situation was pretty dire, but as she traced her hands over his bare shoulders, back and face, that's not at all what he was thinking about. Despite it being clinical, her feather-light touch was rioting some pretty brutal reactions from his body. His mind wandered. The darkness around them was as good as if he closed his eyes and better for imagining what those hands of hers would feel like digging into his skin rather than just brushing over it...

Focus, dude. Focus.

Thousands of pounds of rock has just fallen from the ceiling, more than likely sealing off their way back through the tunnels. He wasn't prone to panicking, but she was. He could taste it coming off of her, even as she words were calm and collected.

"I'll be fine." he reassured her, removing her hands from his torso lest he do something wild, "Hazard of the job. You stay right here in this spot. I'm gonna see if I can get our packs," he touched her face to give him an anchor, finding it bizarre to not be able to look at her while he was speaking to her, "Don't move."

He crawled away from her, very carefully, relying heavily on his expanded sixth sense to get him around. His hand encountered a pack strap and yanking it towards him yielded that it was hers from how light it was, "Found your pack," he told her. He swiped the blood out of his eye and continued. Their packs had been close together...

There. His hand pressed right on his pack. He pulled the tiles out of it and fished blindly - literally- for the matches he had in the bottom. Success! The dark was so oppressive that striking the match made him blink rapidly from the sudden light. It gave him about thirty seconds to assess his surroundings before the match flared out. But he'd figured out what he needed and didn't dare light another one in case they needed to ration them.

One cart had been completely obliterated by the falling rocks. The other cart had miraculously survived. It was tipped over, but the old lantern that hung on the hook in the front was unharmed. And the wick was long and unused.

He struck another match and lit the lantern. Weak light filled the cavern, growing stronger as the resin on the wick burned brightly. Raion's eyes widened.

"Oh. My. God." he whispered. Half the cavern was completely caved in, successfully sealing off the way they'd come. Eevee sat huddled in the corner, her too-big eyes reflecting the light. Her face was pale. She was less than ten feet from the brunt of the collapse. They had to be the luckiest sons of bitches alive.

For now, anyway.

He walked back over to her, carrying the lantern and handed her her pack, "I'll get us out of here, don't worry," he glanced at the wall of debris that separated them from the exit, "It just might take a while..."


	3. Chapter 3

It took a second for her eyes to adjust to the light as it pulled back the pitch darkness of the half-caved in tunnel. As Raion walked towards her, she looked up at him with the hope that he would be able to get them out, because every time she looked at the caved-in tunnel that separated them from air and sunshine, she felt queasy.

She decided to keep her eyes on Raion then, because otherwise she was apt to panic, and while he didn't look pleased, he certainly didn't look on the edge of panicking.

She'd hold it together because she was a pirate now and her captain was present.

Her shaking fingers accepted her pack back from him. She nodded mutely to his promise to get her out, but as he turned to survey the boulders and rocks that were in their way, she could see the large gash down his shoulder blade, and the blood that ran in small rivulets down his back.

She smothered her gasp of surprise. It looked much worse than it felt with her fingertips, which were also stained in blood from her gentle probing. "Senchou, I must stitch you up first. The cut on your forehead and the one of your back really needs attention, especially if you plan on digging us out. If it truly is going to take a some time, then you might as well listen to me and let me prepare you for such an endeavor as best I can given the circumstances. That is my job on the crew, is it not? I mean, you did save my life just a moment ago. Thank you for that, by the way..." she murmured, a tint of rose appearing on her cheeks.

Thought she still felt shaky, Evelyn pushed herself up to her feet regardless. She needed only a moment to ascertain that she wasn't going to topple over again, and stepped over some rocks to get within reach on him. While her eyes continued to scrutinize the wounds and his condition, her fingers were busy fishing around in her pack. Finally, she pulled out a smaller black leather bag.

Dropping her backpack, Evelyn moved over to a rock that came just above knee height to her. "Here, sit here and I shall take care of the head wound first...it may not be as severe, but at least it will keep the blood from getting in your eye." She turned back to look at him expectantly. The firm line of her lips told him that it wasn't a suggestion.

He didn't think his woulds were that serious, but apparently, she did. He could agree at least that if she stitched up his face, that would be helpful. And he wasn't about to argue with the doctor, so he just decided to count his blessings that she was here and follow her directions.

She was... utterly freaked out. His Haki was picking up her emotional state and reading her like a book. Not that he even needed to use his sixth sense, because the lack of color in her face and the way her eyes flickered nervously around them was enough of an indicator. He was willing to bet a whole lot of beris that if he showed any weakness at all, she'd lose her shit.

Good thing he wasn't really concerned about being caved in. It was more of an annoyance than a threat. They'd survived the actual cave-in part, where the big rocks would have killed them. Digging them out? No problem. Time consuming? Yes. Difficult? No.

He perched on the rock she'd gestured towards. He was a good head taller than her standing and sitting on the rock put him at a little lower than eye level with her. In fact, he had a better view of her breasts than he did of her face. He wasn't disappointed by this in the least.

"It's a scar," he swiped a rivulet of blood off his face, "I got it at Impel Down. It tends to open up a lot."

Evelyn set the little black bag on a rock near them, and opened it up to extract a curved needle and a small spool of black thread. She also pulled out two vials stopped by corks, as well as some gauze.

"It's probably going to hurt, I'm sorry about that. The salve I'll apply before I stitch it up will help some by numbing the skin locally, but it won't truly help much once I'm tugging at your skin," Evelyn told him apologietically, threading the needle with a precise eye as she held the implements up to the light. Once threaded, she lay the needle and thread down on a gauze pad next to him on the rock, then picked up a fresh pad of gauze and the larger of the two vials.

"This will help to disinfect the wound as well as topically numb the skin around the wound," Evelyn informed him as she uncorked the vial and pressed the gauze pad over the top of it. Swiftly, she tilted the bottle over and righted it again, then lifted the gauze pad up and turned to face Raion. "Though this will likely sting a little as well..." she informed him in a murmur as she stepped up close enough to reach his face. His open-ocean-and-salty-air scent washed over her briefly as she leaned in to him, and carefully began to clean the wound.

She moved quickly, knowing that time was of the essence, especially considering they likely had a limited supply of oxygen until those rocks could be moved away from the entrance. Once his face wound was clean, she put the gauze pad down and picked up the shinning curved needle.

"Try to hold still as much as possible," she told him in a hushed voice, her eyes flickering down to his face briefly before moving back up to the split skin. Stitching required her to be much closer to him and in a stable position. Stepping even closer to him, her hips and thighs brushed against his legs. She leaned into his face, until her own was about a foot from his, and slowly hooked the needle under and through his skin, pulling the thread through the newly formed hole, until she did the same on the other side of the incision. Gently, she tugged the sides of the wound together, then tied the thread into a secure and tight knot.

He watched in the weak light as she got her materials ready to stitch him up. He was pretty familiar with the procedure to begin with; more often than not he chose to stitch himself up if he could.

"I'm pretty tough. I think I can handle it." he assured her with a grin. Then, he relaxed his face and closed his eyes to make her job easier.

The lack of visual stimulation heightened his other senses. He heard her uncork the first vial, the gentle swish-swish of her getting the solution on the gauze and against his better instincts, his face twitched when she touched the disinfectant to wound. Not because it hurt- though it did sting a bit - but because he anticipated the contact without knowing the precise moment she was going to touch him. Her touch was efficient and gentle without being coddling. Careful. She cleaned up the wound, then again with the swish-swish from a second vial and he actively tried not to twitch as she put on the local anesthetic.

The needle bit into his skin and he felt the strange sensation of pain and painless as the thread followed. She was so incredibly close to him, practically standing between his knees. He could hear her light breathing, feel the thrum of her focus, smell the perfumed scent of her shampoo. One of her hands was braced against his forehead, keeping his hair out of the way while her other stitched him up.

He made an attempt to open his opposite eye to orientate himself, but she tsked at him as his face shifted. He shut his eyes again.

She worked steadily and as happens when you have your eyes closed, it's hard to anchor yourself. Against his better judgment, he reached out and placed his hands lightly on her hips. He really shouldn't have... between her hands in his hand, her face so close to his and her fresh, earthy scent of crushed herbs and shampoo smell, she was all around him. His mind jumped to that moment on the deck earlier this morning, how close he'd come to just kissing her. Kissing the shit out of her. He wanted it, still. Wanted to run his hands over her. Even just the feel of her under the palm of his hands, so innocent, electrified him.

She was halfway through stitching him when he placed his hands on her hips, startling her a little. She paused for a brief moment, her eyes flickering down towards where he was touching her. A small blush crept into her cheeks, a reaction to her enjoyment of the warmth of his hands seeping into her hips. It made her think of his warm body pressing down on hers when he'd tackled her to the ground during training. There had been an electric feeling between them then too.

Her eyes strayed away from the stitches once more, and as she tugged the thread blindly through his skin, she felt the resistance of the thread catching quicker than she had been anticipating. It was enough to jolt her back into focus.

She was stitching him up, for goodness sake. She was their _doctor_. She shouldn't be thinking these silly thoughts, especially when she was giving treatment to one of her nakama. Especially the senchou...She needed to do her job well.

Biting her lip and refusing to let her eyes waver away from her work, Evelyn finished up the stitches of his face. "There, much better. That should keep it from bleeding into your eyes," Evelyn informed him clinically, striving to be as professional as possible.

As much as she detested the idea of it, she backed away from him and out of his light grasp. "Now for your back...it's probably going to hurt a little more, and it most certainly will take longer. I'll need to do more stitches." She walked around to his left, her fingers reaching out to grasp his shoulders and move him into a better position to do her work. She angled him away from her until his back was more squarely facing her, then lightly pressed downward until he was leaning forward slightly, giving her a better plane to do her work on. Her fingertips burned with awareness as they made contact with his warm flesh.

"I promise to work as quickly as I can," she added, picking up the bottle of disinfectant/numbing agent. The second bottle contained a thick salve to be applied to the stitches after they were complete in order to speed recovery and reduce the appearance of scars. Her family was famous for the ability to give their salves and lotions more than one property, such as the ability to disinfect as well as numb the skin, which was the case in the first bottle she'd used. "Then I'll apply a salve and a bandage to your wounds, and you'll be healing in no time," she added cheerfully, needing to say something positive with the weight of a volcano sitting on top of them weighing down her mind.

With that, she quickly got to work, her fingers moving efficiently as she stitched up his slice, moving from the bottom to the top. Finally, she applied the salve as she instructed. Her fingers moved delicately over the newly stitched wounds, ensuring that the whole wound was covered without rubbing the salve in. She applied a gauze pad to his forehead and wrapped the bandages around his head, careful to make sure he would still be able to see. Standing back, she held up another, larger, gauze pad and a roll of bandages. "Will you stand and lift your arms so that I may apply the bandages to your back?" she asked, taking a step away from him to give him room to do as she asked.

The light from their one and only lamp grew dimmer and dimmer as she stitched and bandaged his face and moved onto his back. He almost protested; he was willing to bet that they would run out of light before he could finish digging them out. But when she placed her small hands on his shoulder blades, well, all thoughts of protesting skittered out of his brain.

Damn it, he so wanted to be all up in her business. Wanted her all up in his.

Finally, she instructed him to stand up so that she could wrap the bandage around his torso. His heart lodged up into his throat when she snaked her arms around him, bringing her right flush to him; her front pressing into his back. What the fuck was wrong with him? She was healing his bleeding ass while they were trapped in a volcanic tunnel under miles and thousands of pounds of rock and he couldn't stop thinking about fucking her. Granted, he liked women, thought about sex a lot. But this was ridiculous. He couldn't help himself though. Something about Eevee just flipped all his switches.

Raion didn't realize he was holding his breath until she stepped back from him, declared him done and started putting her things away. Slowly, he let out his breath, feeling a little dizzy from the lack of oxygen.

He leaned over her as she was packing her bag and plucked his tee-shirt from the recesses of her pack and pulled it over his head, "Thanks, doc," he winked at her, "I'm gonna dig us out. Go..." he waved his hands in some kind of dismissive gesture, "... sit over there or something. Out of the way of falling rock."

He picked up the lantern and tied it to his sash. It clunked awkwardly against his hip, but left his hands free. He assessed the rock wall in front of him, blocking their way towards fresh air and the crew. Well. Best start from the top.

He easily scaled the wall, his hands and feet finding loads of holds and ledges until he was at the top, probably twenty feet off the floor. A rock protruded conveniently for him to stand on. With a little force, he struck the rocks at the top with the heel of his hand. Little bits shifted and clattered down the wall to the floor. Bits of the ceiling fell on top of him. It was too fragile. He was gonna have to dig them out by hand. If he cut their way out, the ceiling could fall again.

The only way to judge the passage of time was the dimming of the lantern. Slowly, slowly, the flame ate up the wick and the resin. Raion shoved rocks aside, digging out what felt like a never-ending cycle of rubble. It was like trying to dig out sand; the more he dug, the more just kept filling up what he'd dug out.

Perhaps hours had gone by before his arm fell through the wall into open space. His hands were all cut up, his forearms too. The bandage for his eye had long since fallen off and landed somewhere below him. He was covered from head to boots in a thick layer of dust and dirt.

But he was so close.

He plunged his hands through the rock and shoved rocks. He heard them shifting, gathering momentum as the stones pushed themselves and others out of the way until Raion grinned. A sizable hole greeted him, enough so that they could wriggle out and get the hell out of here.

Good thing too; the wick was nearly out.

He hopped down the wall, picking his way gracefully and carefully, "Let's go!" he told her, "We are running out of light. Literally." he held out his hand for her and helped her scramble up the rock face. He took her pack, shouldering both of theirs and pushed her through the hole he'd made. He followed her and slid down the rubble on the other side.

Just then, the wick flickered and finally, went out.

He ditched the lantern and grabbed her hand, "Good thing I'm the only monster than goes bump in the dark around here."

Wary of being too far away from Raion when she feared another collapse, Evelyn curled up not far from where he was working, her eyes tracing the pattern of the lamp swinging at his hips as he worked. Her thoughts were scattered and disoriented, affected by the constant fear she felt in the back of her mind because of the thousands of pounds of rock above her head. Evelyn was a little claustrophobic, but Raion's presence and his continual work to get them out kept her panic from rising. She simply kept him in her sights.

Soon, the rhythmic swinging of the lantern and the repeated sound of rocks tumbling over other rocks lulled her to sleep. She wasn't even aware she'd dozed off until Raion's voice snapped her out of her reverie. Her heart jumped into her throat and relief flooded her system as she scrambled to her feet, aided by his hand in hers. She noted that he was extremely dirty and dusty, and that the bandage over his forehead had long since fallen away, revealing the sutures she'd done.

"I'll have to clean that later..." she remarked absently as he hurried her up and through the hole. She was just dusting herself off on the other side when the light went out.

Her throat closed a little as panic seized her heart. "Raion?" she called with a voice that trembled a little, but his hand closed around hers just then, and instantly she felt her heart rate slow a little.

Why was he so reassuring to her? Was it that she'd idolized him as a child, and now, seeing him living the dream he always wanted made him seem like a solid, strong man who could accomplish anything he set his mind to? It couldn't help that he was ferociously strong and able to defend both of them, for certain, but she was calmed mentally around him too.

Evelyn drew in a deep breath and nodded her head, then realized he couldn't see that. "I'm alright. Let's get out of here, please," she asked, her voice firmer than before. Holding her free hand up and slightly to the side, she used it to guide her as they started down the long tunnel that lead to freedom.

They walked for a while, Evelyn occasionally tripping over fallen rocks and debris, Raion there to hold her up. Occasionally, they had to stop and move more rubble from their path, but nothing as lengthy or as strenuous as the initial cave-in.

Then, in the darkness, a faint sound reached their ears. Evelyn stopped walking, her arm moving forward then stopping Raion also as went as far as he could without letting go. "Shh...listen...I hear something..." she murmured in a hushed voice. After another second, she heard it again, the sound of distant rocks being moved...and voices!

"I hear voices!" she exclaimed excitedly, "Up ahead. It must be our nakama!" she told him, tightening her grip on his hand and moving closer to him, reaching with her free hand to grasp his arm in excitement. It was odd, speaking to someone you could see. She felt the instinctual need to touch him as she spoke, as if to reconfirm his presence so as to disperse the illusion that she spoke to no one.

She pressed closer to him in the dark and he felt his heart jump into his throat as her breasts unmistakably pressed against his arm. His sexual reaction to her was totally uncouth.

"Let's go," he said, "We can't be far from the exit."

It wasn't very many more steps when he spotted the very dim light that must be the exit. The voices were louder now, mixed with other sounds. The steady rhythm of rain, the roar of thunder.

"Raion!"

"Eevee!"

Lights splashed against the backdrop of rock, flickering unsteadily, announcing their nakama's presence. Raion could feel them, their concern, their aggravation at the rain that most definitely pounded in them all the way from the coast to the cave.

"Right here," Raion called back calmly. Him and Eevee stepped into the light from their lanterns. Sabo was leading the search party with Margherita, Titus and Zeke in tow. All of them had rain coats and lanterns.

"It's been hours! Where have you been? Holy shit, what happened to you?" Sabo started, then spotted Raion's dusty, dirty, sweaty self with a line of stitches on his face.

Raion jerked his thumb over his shoulder, "Cave in. I had to dig us out." he glanced out the entrance, seeing the night sky darkened by thunderclouds and heavy rain, "What time is it?"

"Like, ten o'clock or something," Margherita supplied. He didn't fail to notice that she barely gave Eevee a cursory glance. In fact, she seemed to find it personally offensive that he was holding Eevee hand.

"We came to look for you guys once it started to rain. I had a feeling something happened. It's unlike you to get lost." Sabo said.

"I don't get lost." Raion stated factually.

"Exactly."

"Can we go back now?" Margherita demanded, planting her hands on her hips, "I'm starving! Zeke made us wait for dinner until we found you."

Raion grinned. He handed off the second backpack to Sabo, "Ya, I'm ready to quit this place," he glanced down at Eevee, seeking her agreement then they all headed back to the ship.

They couldn't set sail in the storm, so Raion asked the twins to shove the ship out a couple hundred yards off shore before they dropped anchor to wait out the rain. Dinner was an extremely late affair, where Raion and Eevee were all but forced to recount the cave in. Together, they were quite a good story-telling pair and everything was going well until Sabo literally fell asleep at the table. Just dropped his head and fell asleep. No one was concerned anymore; it happened rather frequently, though no one but Raion knew why. Sabo had inherited that funky habit from his father to stay awake for crazy hours and catch impromptu naps.

Dinner was declared done and everyone dispersed to their quarters. Raion headed for his and jumped straight into the shower, stripping out of his sweaty, rain-soaked clothing. The water stung the slice on his back and face, but he ignored it in favor for the hottest setting he could turn the water on.

He felt like he'd lived a thousand days today. His brain was mentally exhausted. He had that sparring match with Eevee, that... weird, tense moment between them, then docking on the island. Hiking to the tunnels. Exploring. Cutting rock. The cave in. The dig out... His day had been extremely busy.

He wiped the foggy mirror with the side of his hand and inspected his stitches in the reflection. A little quiet part of him was excited for the moment when she'd have to cut the sutras out and get all up in his space again.

Fuck him, he wanted her. It wasn't even a clear, well-thought-out want. It was a selfish one, because he knew, logically, that there would be consequences to fooling around with his nakama. It wasn't as black and white as people made it out to be. She stepped on this ship and signed an unwritten, binding life-long contract with this crew. Kissing her, touching her... hell, anything that encroached passed that line of "friends/nakama" was a huge no-no. It could complicate things.

He still wanted it. He was a rule-breaker by nature, he supposed.

The gentle pitter-patter of the rain had stopped. Raion stuffed his legs into some cloth shorts and shrugged into a dark blue tee-shirt and leaned out his door. A very light drizzle was still coming down, but the clouds were shifting. Such was the weather in the Grand Line. As the saying went "Don't like the weather? Wait five minutes."

Rooms were dark. Raion padded barefoot around the deck. He wanted to set sail and put as much distance between them and that active volcano as possible. Even in the darkness, he could see the smoke belching from the mouth of the mountain, threatening to explode at any given time. It settled uneasy with him just looking at it.

He weighed anchor, tugged the ropes to unfurl the back sail and unlocked the helm. The routine was automatic for him; he and Sabo had managed this rig for almost a year by themselves and before that, he'd been sailing for years.

Up at the helm, he pulled open the drawer/table that held their current map of their area. It was difficult to sail with intention on the Grand Line; fortunately for him, his mother had made excellent, extensive maps for his use. Knowing where he had to sail in order to set the Log Pose in the way he wanted to was helpful in routing his way. He pondered over the map, plotting the best way to get to the island where they would meet Rouge and Lukas in just a few days.

Evelyn slept like the dead that night, barely managing to wash all of the grit off of her aching body without falling asleep in the bath. She woke up even more sore the following morning, and thankfully got a break from training. Sabo steered her towards breakfast while telling her that rest was just as important as training. They ate together, and somehow Sabo made light of the previous night's cave in, and soon Evelyn was laughing about it, completely forgetting her terror and panic from the night before.

The weather had much improved by morning, and they set sail as early as possible, heading in the direction of the designated meeting spot where they would be meeting Rouge. Evelyn was extremely excited, and perhaps a little anxious, about meeting such an infamous female criminal. She'd come to look up to the Dragon Smuggler as another strong female character who wasn't afraid to break the rules and travel the world.

"So you've really met her, Sabo? Spent time with her? Is she really as exciting as they say she is in the paper?" Evelyn asked Sabo later in the day as she helped roll up some extra rigging.

The blond boy grinned and nodded his head, "Oh yes, she's quite the handful."

Evelyn grinned, but the way Sabo grinned seemed weird somehow...like her asking the question had been funny in some way. It was such a slight impression that she wouldn't dare ask, for fear of being rude. "Oh marvelous...I'm terribly excited," Evelyn said happily, her eyes shinning.

Sabo threw back his head and laughed, his shoulders shaking. "Oh, Eevee, she's pretty awesome, but she's just human."

Wrinkling her nose, Evelyn shrugged, slinging the rolled up rigging onto her shoulder. "She's part dragon, actually," she sniffed indignantly, stalking past Sabo with her chin in the air. A small smile played at the edges of her lips, ruining the severity of her expression.

Behind her, Sabo laughed again.

Though she was sore, Evelyn decided to dance that night anyways. She felt restless, and while she was physically tired, her mind was eager and active. Now that she'd had time to forget about the terrors of the cave in, it all seemed like a rather exciting adventure now. Her first one!

Grinning broadly to herself, Evelyn pulled on one of her more billowing night gowns, eager for the wonderful feeling of skirts spreading out around her like roiling clouds as she moved her hips to the music. Careful to not wake her roommate, she headed towards the deck.

They were far enough away from the volcano now that the weather was clear and beautiful, displaying the stars like gems and the moon like a glowing silver disk. It was almost full, perhaps only two or three days to go. Evelyn smiled at it, then hurried over to where she customarily placed her music player.

A breeze ruffled her hair, and she sighed, feeling lighter than she ever had. There were no expectations on her, no manners to stick to or impressions to make. She was free to be anyone now. Smiling, she started dancing, a rather slow dance where she spun in big turns that had her night gown billowing out around her, silver in the the moonlight.

He was waiting for her.

He'd waited for her the night before, though with little expectation that she'd dance after the hella day they'd had. But tonight...

Raion sat at his mapping table, doodling aimlessly across the edges. Then... he felt her more than he heard her. She was quiet as a mouse, but that sixth sense of his tingled and he shot out of his chair so fast it clattered backwards. He righted it carefully then padded out of his room.

He made as much noise as the wind as he ducked down near the banister to watch her. She was made of ethereal grace, that silver dress ghostly in the light of the moon. Her dance was slow, turning in large circles and unconsciously, he started mentally counting a rhythm for her. It was as if she knew the music in his head and danced to it, or perhaps he was hearing the music for her dance.

Her arms came up, positioned in such a way as if she was begging for a partner. He couldn't sit here idle anymore. He had to be down there, had to be that dance partner that she was imagining she had.

Raion crept down the stairs, his bare feet silent, automatically choosing all the footsteps where the wood wouldn't creak under his weight. He caught sight of his piano and suddenly, he was torn. Play music for her? Or dance with her? The idea of playing music for her was tempting; but he had a feeling he'd startle her into retreating to her room.

No, it was better to catch her first.

Her back was to him. He waited. She turned and there he was. He caught her right hand in his left, his other hand to her waist as she'd shown him days ago. And he didn't miss a beat, smoothly falling into the rhythm of her dance.

"Looks like you need a dance partner. I happen to be an excellent dancer," he grinned devilishly.

As the music drifted through the air, Evelyn's eyes drifted closed and her dancing became more instinctual, her mind knowing where the edges of the deck were. It was like floating, to dance in an inky darkness with a soft breeze ruffling her hair and skirts.

She might not have seen him, even if her eye had been open; he moved so quietly. One moment, her arms were open and empty, and the next, she was swept around and found Raion's solid body in the circle of her arms.

She let out a startled gasp, almost losing her rhythm and step, but his arms were sure and strong, an anchor to steady herself. "Senchou!" she exclaimed softly, struggling to keep her voice down so as not to wake the rest of the crew. A blush exploded across her cheeks, a combination of embarrassment for having been found dancing in the middle of the night and as a result of her sudden proximity to him.

It was dim on the deck, with only the light of the crescent moon and the stars to illuminate them, but she could still see Raion. His dark eyes were wrinkled with devilish amusement, and his dark hair fell across his brow and his sutures in a rogue kind of way that made her heart speed up just looking at him. He smelled good too, spicy and dark, his scent wrapping her up the way his arms were wrapped around her.

Unconsciously, she moved closer to him, lured him the warmth of his torso and his addicting scent.

"Wh-what are you doing up..?" she stammered, ducking her head and hiding her eyes from him. "Did I wake you? I'm terribly sorry, I simply thought to use the deck when no one would find it inconvenient..." she murmured, even more quietly. While her heart was hammering and her muscles felt suddenly jittery, she managed to keep a smooth dance rhythm because he was, in fact, a terribly good dancer. It felt natural with him, in fact, almost like breathing. They moved in sync with such ease that she felt a little breathless as a result. It wasn't often that dancers found partners who moved in such perfect rhythm with them.

As Margherita crept up towards the deck, it wasn't the first time she'd risen to watch the 'princess' dance. She hated herself for doing it, hated Evelyn even more for making her want to watch...but a small part of herself knew, she was horribly envious of the woman. She hated that she had such easy grace, but couldn't help herself from watching anyways.

Why couldn't she be so graceful? Why couldn't Raion follow her with his eyes like he did Evelyn?

Perhaps she watched Evelyn in hopes that some of her refinery would rub off on Margherita, not that she would ever admit that to anyone. She tried to keep her distance from her during the day because hearing her perfect accent and watching her with her perfect posture made Margherita so mad sometimes she just wanted to smack the girl. She didn't belong on a pirate ship, she belonged in a classy ballroom with diamonds and silk everywhere.

She especially couldn't stand watching her with Raion. She wondered sometimes if she was the only one who noticed how both of them looked at each other. They seemed oblivious to the fact with each other, that was for sure, and Margherita hoped it stayed that way. It hurt to see her captain, whom she'd long been infatuated with, looking at Evelyn in a way Margherita wanted him to be looking at her.

But he never would. Margherita had always known that, but she'd still wanted him. She'd even been okay with knowing he wouldn't go after her, because she'd always reasoned that he would never fraternize with a crew member. Raion liked to love and leave his ladies...

But Evelyn was nakama now. And still he wanted her.

As much as she hated Evelyn for all of this, she still loved watching her dance. It was like a dream, and Margherita could let go of her ugly jealousy for a moment, forget that the woman she watched dancing was the same woman whom her captain wanted.

Making nary a sound, Margherita crept closer to the deck, staying low to keep herself from being discovered. Not that she truly worried; she had long figured out that Evelyn entered a sort of trance when she danced, and became oblivious to the rest of the world.

As she peered through the slats of the railing, the air in her lungs froze, and cold stabbed through her heart.

Raion was dancing with Evelyn.

Her fingers tightened on the railings until her nails dug into the wood like butter, and the air slowly hissed out passed her lips. Angry, ugly jealousy ripped through her, and she almost got up and left, the emotions roiling through her were so strong.

Even more horrendously, she felt the prickling of angry tears in her eyes. The unfairness of it was unbearable. Raion would never dance with her that way, would never look down at her with such desire in his eyes.

Margherita tensed, intent of leaving, but her eyes were glued to the pair. For just the same reason that she could come and watch Evelyn night after night, even though she couldn't stand the woman, it was surprisingly easy to see them together like this, as if in a dream. It was like watching a dark prince with his fair princess, her white nightgown billowing out like a silver ballgown.

Her heart ached, seeing them together, but even she had to admit that they looked good together, looked like a matching pair.

He loved the way that she said "Senchou". It just rolled off her tongue and right down his spine. And made all sorts of tingles and jingles erupt in his stomach. Part of him wanted to not have that reaction to her, but the bigger part of him couldn't get enough of it, of her.

Dancing with her was a dream. He didn't even like dancing but he was so enthralled with the way she danced that he just had to be a part of it. His Tikka-oba had forced him to dance with the twins a little in an effort to accentuate grace and flexibility into his swordplay, but he hated it so much.

Funny how he didn't seem to mind it now and was even glad for the lessons.

"I was already up," he told her, twirling her out of his arms and back into them smoothly, "I wouldn't be very good at my job if I didn't know who was on the deck at all times. Now," he tipped her face up, "Chin up, eyes ahead, right?"

The song changed seamlessly into something a little faster and without even consciously thinking about it, their pace changed to keep time with the music. Even his heart rate elevated in time, though if it was from the music or from the fact that every beat brought them another hairbreadth closer remained to be seen.

Music brought him into a whole other head-space. It was where he escaped to, where he could feel without words or sing without meaning. Moving his body to the rhythm of music was like a body-space rather than just a head-space. With her in that zone with him? It was intimate, comparable to letting someone sleep in his bed with him. Sure, he shared music out to others, to let someone in was different; uncomfortable yet exciting.

The music came to an abrupt, staccato stop and they were suddenly in the middle of the deck, pressed together. Chest to breast, hip to hip, thigh to thigh, feet entangled somewhere at the bottom. Heart to heart, lung to lung, hand to hand. His breathing was a little fast with adrenaline, yet stopped short by her proximity. She smelled like perfumes and earthly herbs and the scent went right to his head, intoxicating him.

Raion tipped her chin back up to look at him and leaned into her, his mouth a scant inch from hers, "Have you ever been kissed by a pirate before?" he asked her. Fuck, he wanted to kiss the ever-loving shit out of her but that wasn't for right now. Instead, he brushed his lips against her, soft and smooth and felt the arcs of electricity spark right down to his toes.

When the music changed, he adapted, and Evelyn found herself dancing with him to songs she never thought she'd ever be able to dance with a partner for, not so well at least. They moved like one being, and his body responded to hers like it was speaking to his. He could read every slight tip of her hips, the changing positions of her legs by a brush of their thighs...he may not have known the particular dance they were moving to, but he certainly responded quickly enough to her cues that he seemed as though _he_ were leading.

By the end of the music, she was breathless for more than one reason. Her head was swimming with the combination of his scent, the feel of his body moving like liquid with her own, and his devilish grin.

She had had a chance to recover when his hand released hers, and he reached for her chin. She sucked in her breath as he tipped it back, and her eyes widened, glowing like orbs in the moonlight.

He was going to kiss her. She knew it even before the words left his mouth. She was frozen, rooted to the spot, unable to move away even if she wanted to.

She didn't want to say that _he_ was the only one who had actually kissed her, back when they'd been children. He hadn't been a pirate then, though.

His lips were soft, brushing against hers more gently than she'd expected from him, _a pirate_. But it was as powerful as lightning, and send warmth spreading down to her stomach. Her fingers, gripping his shoulder, tightened reflexively, his shirt bunching between the digits.

Her head swam, and for a moment she could do nothing to react, her breath stilled in her lungs. Then a rush of giddy excitement shot through her veins, and her fingers tightened even more.

He was a pirate kissing her, but now...now she was a pirate kissing _him_ too.

Emboldened by her thoughts, by the new freedom her change of life had given her, Evelyn leaned up and pressed her lips back against his, rising up on her tiptoes and pressing the length of her body against his in an effort to reach his lips.

Raion had had a lot of 'first' kisses. Each one had been a little bit different. First kisses were strange little moments; they reflected the intention of the encounter. Hot, passionate kisses tended to lead to steamy hotel rooms whereas thorough kisses leaned more towards make-out sessions in the back booth of the bar.

How he handled a first kiss usually bespoke what he wanted out of the female. And he'd imagined a first kiss with Eevee in many, many different scenarios. Interestingly enough, all the ones he really wanted led to clothes coming off, different levels of orgasm and then by consequence, total awkwardness. It was a very selfish way of approaching things.

His thinking had been very deliberate; when the opportunity presented itself, he would ease into the kiss. Nothing to overt, but not terribly subtle either. He wanted to communicate 'I'm incredibly interested' without scaring her away. It was a logical way of looking at it and Raion liked to think logically.

Then again... it wasn't uncommon for his emotions to run away on him. Consequentially, it was why he and Sabo worked so well together. They were both incredibly intelligent, capable of planning elaborate, coordinated schemes but when Raion's temper flared, Sabo kept a cool head. In fact, the whole crew was pretty good at keeping him even-keeled.

Except... Eevee. She wrecked all sorts of emotional havoc on him.

He had not been expecting this reaction out of her. He hadn't been expecting much reaction at all, actually. Not that her kissing him back was a bad thing by any stretch, hell no. He'd spent a shameful amount of time fantasizing what it would be like to kiss her, to feel her body pressed into his from her breasts to her hips, her hands on his skin, fingers in his hair. What she would taste like, what her body would feel like under his hands, what she would sound like...

He was getting that from her and it sent tingles from his stomach right to his head, making him feel as fuzzy as a drunk. He threaded his hand through her hair and tipped her head just... a touch and kissed her like he meant it. A deep, thorough kiss. He sucked her lower lip until she yielded just enough for him to sweep his tongue inside her mouth and taste her. She tasted like... like innocence and sexual fantasies and things he wanted but couldn't have yet.

He was so drunk on her. It would be so easy, too easy even, to get lost in that feeling and fall over the edge, passed the point of no return. He could take advantage of her innocence and persuade her to do things she had probably never even imagined before.

But if he ever wanted to feel this way again... this fuzzy excited desire... pushing her would kill it.

Raion released her from his kiss, but not his hold on her, still reveling a little in the feel of her pressed against him, "We can't keep kissing like that unless we..." he cocked his head a little, gesturing that she could use her imagination to figure out the rest of his sentence and he grinned. "Maybe next time we meet like this, I'll play you some music to dance to instead..."

Then he kissed her again, just once more because even in the dark, her flushed mouth was tempting, "I need to leave you alone now," he whispered against her lips, his voice gravelly around the edges from arousal.

The edge to his voice bespoke of the same urgency she felt in her own body, the need to be even closer to him, to feel him wrapped around her. She felt a little flushed, and his lips against hers as he whispered sent dueling shivers down her spine.

"Leave...?" she asked, in a breathy, absent voice. Her brain was having trouble keeping up with logical thoughts. The enchanted feel of the swaying deck under the moon had already put her in a trance-like state when he'd been dancing, and now she felt covered in a fog of pleasurable sensations and weightlessness.

But he was already gone, and she was left standing on the deck, wondering if her encounter with her senchou had been dream or reality as she retreated for her bed, Raion's scent still fresh in her nose.

Their kiss was like a dagger to the heart to Margherita, and she was such frozen, watching the horribly perfect scene as her heart broke more and more.

And then it got both beautiful and even more horrible.

Margherita knew her senchou. He loved the ladies, and he was quite well known for enjoying them briefly, then setting sail and never speaking to them again. She also knew that from the way Evelyn reacted, the girl would have done anything for Raion, if he'd pushed. But he hadn't.

It said two things to Margherita. That he was either playing the same slow with a greater goal in mind...or he actually liked Evelyn, and respected her more than the females he usually bedded. Neither of these things appealed to Margherita.

When both Raion and Evelyn had disappeared from the deck, Margherita exhaled slowly, and slumped back against the railing. She hurt, and she was angry. How dare that good-for-nothing _lady_ seduce her captain.

It just...wasn't fair.

It was even more unfair that the two looked so damned perfect for each other. Raion had always been the Dark Prince to his father's Kingliness, and seeing him with a lovely lady, so proper and damned beautiful, was like a fairy-tale book.

Margherita wanted it so badly she could taste it. And knowing it wasn't meant for her made it the most bitter taste in the world.

Resolutely in a foul mood, Margherita slunk off to bed.

The next day, Raion kinda moved around in a daze. He was awake, alert, but it was hard to be present when he was so wrapped around the night before. The memory flowed like a dream through his mind. At points, it was sharp and clear as if it had happened just now, but most of it was lost in the foggy shadows of dreamscape.

He'd kissed her. He really couldn't even declare himself a total idiot because he couldn't keep the stupid grin off his face and butterflies out of his stomach when he thought about her. He was an idiot though and rationally, he knew it, even if he didn't actually feel that way.

Part of him wondered, why her? There were so many reasons why he should stay as far away from her in any sort of sexual situation as possible. Main reason: she was nakama and you can't fuck around with nakama. Any good pirate worth his salt knew that. It was too complicated, trying to juggle professional and personal affairs together like that. It wasn't uncommon, hell, he had three examples right from his father's crew, but those relationships were best treated as exceptions rather than rules.

And the other sorta auxiliary reasons... she fangirled Luffy so hard when they were children that Raion was left to wonder if she didn't think that his crew was simply... second best. That Raion was second best. But he dismissed that insecurity quickly enough because she'd liked him well enough before finding out about his lineage. It was probably just thrilled coincidence that he was the Pirate King's son.

And that was what he liked about her, which segwayed him into his why not her reasons. Not only was she absolutely lovely and everything about her tripped his switches, but she was like... like the fair lady to his dark prince. The yin to his yang. The dance to his music. It was as if she wasn't just his opposite, but rather she balanced him out and that was what was so attractive about her. He couldn't not think about her.

Raion laid his head against the keys of his baby grand piano. The notes made a cacophony of sound. Not even music could distract him, which was very rare. This had been his whole damned day, floating in and out of present and memory. He could remember her lips, but what did her mouth taste like again? He remembered her body under his hands, but what did her soft curves feel like pressed up to his harder frame? Or how about the dance? Was it as surreal as he recalled? Did it really feel like the dance and the music came together or did he just imagine that?

He couldn't wrap his head around it. Clearly, he had to kiss her again.

He sat up and dropped his elbow on the keys this time and propped his chin in his hand. The thought of kissing her again made him feel itchy on the wasn't really a stranger, per say, when it came to seducing women. In fact, it sorta came hand-in-hand with his ability to manipulate people to get what he wanted. He'd done it on all sorta of time scales, from getting the deed done in a couple of hours to a couple of days. But therein lay the problem; his efforts with women led to one goal; get some strange, have a good fuck and then get the hell out.

His intentions with Eevee didn't really have that goal. And that confused the crap out of him. Sure, he wanted to kiss her. He'd really like to get her in his bed too. But then what? He wasn't exactly the 'relationship' type guy like Sabo was, for example. The closest he'd ever come to being someone's 'boyfriend' was something in middle school that lasted a few days, maybe a week.

Wait a minute. What the fuck was he thinking? Relationships? Girlfriends? This is what she did to him. One kiss and she fucking addled his brain.

Raion sat up and played a quick scale in Concerts C and E before diving into Boulez' 'Second Sonata', a very complicated piece of music that was sure to keep him utterly distracted until he could sleep. If he could sleep

Never in her life had Evelyn had such a day where she was so entirely distracted by another individual. Raion acted so casually natural that part of her second-guessed her own memory. Had it really be a dream, and she'd invented the whole kiss up in her mind?

But just once, at dinner, their eyes had met...and held. It was for merely a moment, but the recognition was there. Evelyn felt the force of that look, could feel her body warming from the knowledge of the truth of last night, made her feel a little lightheaded, particularly with all of their nakama present.

She realized, now, why such a relationship would be extremely complicated. Nakama...were for life. And as much as Evelyn was a romantic, she knew that relationships between men and women...were not always for life.

She bit her lip after that realization, troubled by that thought. Troubled by the idea that Raion may not want such a relationship, given the complexities of getting involved with nakama. Even more, she was troubled by the realization that it didn't matter, to her. While she didn't know the depths of her feelings, certainly not after such a short amount of time, she did know one thing; Monkey D. Raion was, and always would be, someone dear in her life. It was like a truth she sensed about him, an intuition, one might say.

She knew she was willing to risk being with him, regardless of the consequences, and while that was a powerfully disconcerting thought to have about someone who had so recently entered their life, she knew this fact about him the same way she'd always known that she belonged on the open sea, as a pirate.

Her eyes skittered back over to Raion, where he was chuckling at something Sabo. Quickly, she looked away again, and knew from the way her heart raced faster, that she wasn't going to be able to ignore her feelings.

Although her meal was only half eaten, Evelyn needed to retreat and think a little, so she rose to her feet. "Excuse me...goodnight everyone," she smiled and waved, then hastily retreated to her room.

Several hours later, Evelyn was still wide awake, staring at the ceiling and listening to Margherita's quiet snores. Her mind raced with indecisiveness, keeping her up. Part of her desperately wanted to go dancing again tonight. Part of her felt she should go to bed and forget it.

The part of her that wanted to dance...secretly also hoped that Raion would make another appearance. But the part of her that felt she should go to bed...secretly feared him not showing up, and didn't want to be proven right.

In the end, and with a fortifying deep breath, Evelyn rose from her bed, fetched her music player, and crept out to the deck.

The moon was even more full tonight, and while there were clouds in the sky tonight, they left wide swathes of stars peeking around the black voids that were the clouds at night. The cool night air helped her to relax, reminding her of why she loved to dance in the first place.

Smiling to herself, she situated her music, started it, then moved to the center of the deck. Closing her eyes, she took another deep breath, and let it out slowly, releasing all of her worries and emptying her mind of everything except for the sound of the music. It was soft, like she always played it, so as not to arouse the crew, but it lent that familiar dream-like quality to her dance.

Sweeping her arms out to the side, she began to dance.

He was only partway through his complex musical piece when his Haki tingled. His fingers slipped and the sharpness of the note made him flinch. That was her. She was out on the deck again to do her dancing.

Raion stopped playing as indecision warred around his mind. Should he go out on the deck? And if he did, should he interact with her or simply watch her? He didn't know. Nothing seemed definite when it came to her.

He picked up his piece where he'd left off. His fingers danced across the keyboard, as graceful as Eevee did when she danced across the deck. He could feel her out there, sense her emotions, hear her mind. He could practically hear her rhythm. 'Hear' was a poor word choice; it was more like he could 'feel' her. Semantics, really. The point was... she was out there and he knew it.

His fingers slipped again on a composition he knew so well and that's when he called it quits. He had different music in mind, music that accompanied her movement. He couldn't just sit here and pretend to want to play some shit he'd memorized in his lessons.

He left his bedroom. Before when he'd go on the deck to watch her, he'd made an attempt at subtly. Tonight, he didn't give two shits about it. He wanted her to know that he was here. She was gonna know anyway, when he shut off her music in two seconds.

And he did just that. He strode right up to her music player, tapped the pause button, turned around and headed to the concerto-sized grand piano in the corner of the deck. He pulled the protective cover off, popped the lid a little to allow noise to resonate and dropped his ass on the bench. The way the piano was situated, he could see everything out on the deck, and his back was in a corner.

"How about I play a little something for you instead?" he asked her with a grin. He did a quick warm up in a couple of scales then, without taking his eyes off her, counted off a beat for her and jumped into an allegro pirate song he'd known forever.

As her song cut off, Evelyn whirled around to face her player, her feet still on the deck. Her eyes zeroed in on Raion's tall figure as he casually walked away from the player towards the piano niched away on the deck.

Her breath caught. She'd never heard him play that piano, not yet; not since they were adults, anyways. Her eyes were rapt on his deliberate gate, on the smile that played at the edges of his lips. Her heart picked up a little, and she shifted her footing to a general stance, as if readying herself for anything.

Expectancy was in the air, echoing his words before they were even spoken. She knew what he was going to say, what he was going to do.

Her cheeks pinked, and her eyes began to sparkle with rising excitement, her initial urge to suppress the feeling melting away. She watched him raptly, a smile on her lips.

The notes rang through the air, clear and clean and beautiful. The beat was quicker than the music she'd had on, but with such an uplifting, smooth staccato that her blood tingled just listening to it. More than dance, it made her want to _sing._ She sang to very few people, and had only done it once in performance. She was incredibly shy about her singing, but not so with her dancing.

A delighted smile flashed across her face, and she lifted her arms and one foot, waiting for a break in the music to jump in. With a deep breath, she dove into the song like a dolphin dives into the waves of a ship.

The song was fast at times, and her nightgown whipped around her ankles and calves like silken scarves tugged by a twirling cyclone, and at times in was slow, her nightgown billowing out like soft clouds.

As she danced, she fell deeper and deeper into the song, forgetting first about the deck and the night sky, then even him. Her eyes drifted closed, and a smile played at the edges of her lips. After several minutes of drifting and dashing to difference parts of the deck, she moved in his direction. In a wide arc around the deck, she drifted close to the wall the piano was placed next to, within a yard from Raion himself, her arms up as her hips sashayed to the beat in a dizzying circle.

The piece of music was incredibly fast to dance to, especially when compared to music she had been listening to. It was also a showy piece, his hands bouncing around the keyboard, trills where he pulled his hands over the keys and his hands completely independent of each other.

He wasn't paying any attention to his hands. Not that he needed to really, but regardless, what was in front of him was much more captivating. He'd known this musically composition since childhood when Brook had drilled it into his skull as part of his repertoire, but he'd never seen it acted out before. Eevee danced to it like it was living and the music had become her partner. She twirled with it, dipped it, swayed her hips and swirled her hands and tossed that music around so much that he found himself following her lead rather than him providing the music. She made the beat.

She danced in a wide arc around the deck, her eyes closed, her body moving sinuously. He knew that she knew the parameters of the deck space by the way she confidently placed her feet, moving around the floor surely and steadily. She came closer to him.

Closer. The music crescendoed. Faster. Closer. He could feel his heart pick up, matching her rhythm, the rhythm of the music.

The sound ended abruptly, as it should and he was on his feet and practically vaulting the piano hood to be close to her. There was too much emotional high, created from now, left over from the day, it didn't matter. It was there and he acted on it.

He was against her in a heartbeat, shoving her against the wall behind her and trapping her between it and his body. The first kiss last night had been so dream-like and surreal that it was almost as if it hadn't happened.

There would be no mistakes like that again. He grabbed her face with his hands and kissed her hungrily, like he was gonna die if he didn't.

It all happened so fast, Evelyn could barely follow it. She gasped as she felt the momentum of her dance come to an abrupt halt as hands and a taunt torso crowded her back against the wall, not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to drive the air out of her lungs and momentarily stun her.

Raion's scent suddenly enveloped her, and the warmth and feel of his body pressed against hers through the thin material of her nightgown. He was much taller, and he towered over her, the way he leaned down towards her creating a natural cage of his body against the hard wooden wall behind her. "Rai-" she started to say, her cheeks hot, but her words were cut off by his lips descending on hers.

Any sort of protest died instantly, and any resistance in her body melted away. Her face tilted back as if lured further by the taste of him, held close by his hands on either side of her face. Her eyelashes fluttered closed as a soft sound of surprised pleasure slipped from her lips.

He tasted good. His lips were warm and smooth, and while the way he was kissing her felt hungry and fierce, he was surprisingly gentle. These thoughts flashed through her mind as the shock slowly wore off. Then she couldn't think at all, lost in the newfound sensations of warmth and electricity shooting through her veins.

His kiss, deeper than the one he'd give her last night, unlocked deeply buried desires in her body. Passion that was discouraged in proper ladies came rushing to the surface, and manifested itself the moment she began to kiss him back in earnest. She hadn't the slightest idea what she was doing, but she did what felt right.

Her hands slowly pressed flat against his chest, feeling the warmth and hard lines of his pecs through the thin material. Her heart beat accelerated, and she slowly slid them up until she could hook her hands around his neck, drawing him closer to her as she angled her head back and to the side in order to kiss him better.

At that moment, he didn't care that making out with nakama was totally taboo. He didn't care that she could be in this just for who he was. He didn't care about what was going to happen after this kiss or what. When she kissed him back, his world narrowed right down to her and her mouth.

The way she yielded right to him, traced her hands up his chest to link around his neck, he almost forgot about the raw innocence he was dealing with. Once again, he was struck by the idea that if he pushed hard enough, sweet talked her just the right way, he could get her to do just about anything.

But he couldn't. Wouldn't. Not that he didn't want to see what a proper noble lady might look like between the sheets, but he had a very strong feeling that it would happen given time. And by the time that happened, she'd be a full-on corrupted lady pirate.

He would corrupt her innocence slowly.

His tongue swept into her mouth, tasting her. His hands left her face; one went behind her head to thread his fingers through her hair while the other boldly skated over the front of her body. Down the side of her neck, his fingertips brushing over her collarbone, then down, over her breasts, feeling the ribbing of her corset under her gown. Fuck, he'd like to see what she wore under her clothes. Every time he had the fortunate opportunity to touch her, it tantalized him. He wanted to unthread it slowly, watching as her breasts burst free for his hands and mouth...

Fuck. He had to see. Just... see. With his eyes. Okay, maybe his hands a little too. Just a little.

Both hands went to the back of her dress, his fingers feeling the pearl buttons that fastened it together down her spine. He undid the first half dozen and felt the dress shift downward. Not far, because it was still held up by her arms, but enough.

He pulled his mouth away from hers and shifted his weight back so that her arms gave a little slack. The dress slipped another two inches down, revealing the swell of her breasts and the edging of what she wore underneath. His breath did a little stutter in his lungs.

Raion traced the palm of his hand over her collarbone and tops of her breasts and then fingered the lace peeking out, "Do you wear this everyday?" he asked, his voice a little breathless and ragged at the edges.

Face flushed, Evelyn tilted her head back against the wall as he leaned back and stared down at her breasts. She knew she should have more modesty, knew that as a lady, she should be horrified with what was transpiring...but she wasn't. She wanted this, and the rush was the kind of excitement that she'd anticipated about entering the life of a pirate.

A lady may never engage in such debauchery...but a lady pirate would.

A small smile played at the edges of her lips, an odd mixture of shyness and pleased excitement. Her lashes fluttered downward as she glanced towards where he was tugging at her corset. The tight garment had been a part of her life for so long now, she almost forgot she was wearing them, despite how stifling and annoying they could be.

"Yes..." she answered, her voice husky and low. His fingers and his palms brushing over the bare skin of her collarbone and the swells of her breasts were driving her crazy. Her breath hitched as his palm slid particularly low, practically cupping her breast, then sped up a little as the heat in her body continued to rise.

Her eyes went to his face, and she felt another thrill of excitement to see the fierce need in his expression, to see the way he stared at her breasts possessively...hungrily. Biting her lip, Evelyn let her hands drift down from around his neck, sliding them over his heavily muscled chest. Steeling herself, she let her hands drift even lower, over his abs and the muscles covering his ribs, the sensation sending shivers down her spine.

"You feel magnificent..." she whispered in a slightly awed voice.

He half expected her to dart like a startled animal. But that was only half. The other half of him knew that she'd step up to just about anything he threw at her. She enjoyed trying new things, especially if she thought it would bring her closer to something that she wanted.

Everything south of his navel tightened at how reciprocal she was. Blood pounded in his head, his heart, his cock when she slid her hands down his body. She wasn't even touching him, really. It was the idea of it though, that was so exciting. She could, she even wanted to. That was what was exciting him. Just the possibility.

What had started in his brain as just a simple need to kiss her a second time was rapidly spiraling into something more than just that. Nothing was ever so simple as a kiss. Nothing would ever again be as simple as a kiss. He brushed her hands aside and peeled his shirt off over his head. In one fluid motion, he yanked that night dress right down until she was standing in the dark, clad in a cream-colored corset and matching undies.

"Oops," he said, his tone anything but apologetic. His hands traced over the fine details in the material, from the subtle lace edging to the ribbing that gave it shape to the lace backing. He made no move to remove the corset; as much as he wanted to, he knew where to draw the limits.

He pressed hot kisses against her neck and along her collarbone and the swells of her breasts, his tongue tasting her skin as he went. His hands settled on her ass, keeping her pressed right flush against him. His pulse beat wildly at the feeling of the satin corset against his bare chest.

When Evelyn had decided to go up to the deck to dance, it was impossible to deny the fact that she'd been thinking about his kiss, had wanted another one. This...was much more than a kiss, and was quickly developing into a realm of pleasure she'd never known about before.

It was a little overwhelming, to say the least.

He pulled her nightgown down until it pooled into a silvery puddle at her feet, and her face flamed. Her hands itched to cover herself, never before having been so exposed to a man in her life, but he pulled her close before she could, effectively shielding her body against his. The feeling of his naked flesh pressing against her corset was an effective distraction to her own embarrassment, as where the hot kisses he was placing along her neck and collarbone.

Her breaths came faster, and her fingers curled against his chest, as if she wanted to push him away but lacked the strength to. In reality, her mind was at war, half of her consciousness basking in the warmth and pleasure his lips and hands were bringing to her body, the other half panicking from such intense, new feelings spiraling through her.

It was a war between the side of her that wanted to be a pirate, that boldly desired to try new things, no matter how frightening, and the side of her that was still a lady, bred in a home of safety and careful study.

"Raion..." she whispered breathlessly, only the barest hint of hesitation betrayed by her voice.

Raion made it a habit to be in tune with his nakama, letting his Haki ability always pick up the subtle nuances of their moods. He felt that it helped him be a better, more efficient captain.

He was ridiculously in tune with her. And he picked up on the subtle shift in her comfort level. It was buried beneath the folds of arousal, but it was there nonetheless.

Raion was many, many things, not all of them nice, but a jackass in the sack was not one of them. He never pushed too hard when it wasn't welcomed.

His name - his real name, not 'senchou' as she most often called him - was the moment he knew he had to stop. The way it washed over his spine, smooth as water, was enough to make him want to toss her over his shoulder like a Neanderthal and kidnap her into his room. Do wicked things to her that would make her say his name again and again.

Not tonight, not when she didn't feel secure. Not when he knew that if he bided his time just a little, she'd come to him.

He dragged his mouth away from her skin and kissed her lips once more, thoroughly, enough to make his head spin feverishly. Then, he plucked her night dress off the deck and slithered it back over her body, not bothering to fasten the clasps in the back.

"I want you," he said, right near her ear, "Naked, in my sheets, with my head between your thighs," he scratched his teeth along the pulse in her neck, "Not tonight, not tomorrow. But soon." he kissed her neck, "And you want that too."

He pushed away from her and plucked his tee shirt off the deck, dangling it over his shoulder with one finger. He gave her one last, heated glance before he turned and headed for the stairs. He was half-way there when he paused and said over his shoulder, "I always get what I want, doctor."

His leg ate up the stairs two at a time before he disappeared into his room, leaving her alone on the deck.

It was a long time before Evelyn could move. She clutched the nightgown to her chest, holding her breath as the sounds of his footsteps faded away. Her face burned with heat, and her veins felt laden with molten lava.

His words were branded into her skull as if with hot iron.

They were brazen, honest, _heated._ They were entirely the words of a pirate, one who had practice with conquest, and was confident in his skills.

They broke a part of herself, deep inside. The part of her who had still been holding on to the illusion that her old life still mattered. Everything she'd known...was no longer important. She could choose what was important, what she wanted...and she could go for it, damn anyone who thought otherwise.

That was the freedom of being a pirate.

A wide grin split her face.

Feeling giddy, Evelyn scurried back to her room.

Raion didn't sleep much that night. Not even a cold shower and his right hand could quell the fire that settled deep in his belly at the thought of the lovely lady Evelyn, half naked pressed against him. Or the idea that somewhere in the near future, he'd get to hear his name again off her lips.

He was totally crazy and he knew that, but he was passed the point of no return with her now. No way was he ever gonna go back to seeing her as regular nakama, if there had ever even been a point when he did see her as that. It was like every time she walked, she put a rhythm in his head. She was a song he couldn't stop hearing.

Despite sleep deprivation, the next day was so busy that there wasn't any time for Raion to feel tired whatsoever. Being captain and navigator all rolled into one was a very busy profession, especially as they spotted their destination in the distance just before lunch. Everyone rushed around and Raion was startled a little to feel the tension coming off his rag-tag bunch of friends.

Margherita was particularly vexed. She just permeated anger and while that wasn't overly different from her typical motif of venomous to begin with, usually she had a bit more spunk behind it. Today, she refused to talk to anybody. She did her chores and that was that.

Sabo hadn't slept the night before either, though that wasn't a surprise to anyone because Sabo didn't follow the same sleep pattern as typical human beings did. Raion however, knew it wasn't because he was lost in some text or project, but because his best friend always had a little anxiety about seeing Rouge.

And Eevee, well, Raion knew exactly what her deal was today because it was his deal too. He'd speak to her and she'd have any number of reactions to him. He probably wasn't helping matters any by undressing her with his eyes every time he got the chance to look at her. He knew she was wearing another one of her corsets under her clothes and a part of him was dying to see it.

While Zeke and Titus made quick work of furling the sails and dropping anchor at the docks, Raion and Sabo went down to the cargo hold where the white obsidian was being kept.

"Holy shit." Raion remarked at the sight of all the stone. He hadn't actually seen it all yet, "You guys didn't mess around."

"Well duh. Unlike some pirates, I actually get shit done on land." Sabo grinned knowingly.

"We were caved-in."

"You were snogging the doctor."

"Snogging? What the fuck is snogging? Where the hell do you come up with these words?" Raion started hauling rock into cargo crates.

"It means sucking face."

"Sucking face? I do not suck face."

"You suck face with Eevee."

Raion nearly dropped the stones he was carrying, "I... that... I don't know what that is yet." Damn it, nothing slipped by Sabo. He was way too sharp.

Sabo laughed, "Regardless. It's gonna take us forever to load this stuff. We have to meet Rouge and Lukas at sundown."

"I'll send Eevee ahead to meet her. She's dying to meet the Dragon."

Raion left Sabo down below and went up to the deck. Margherita was target practicing with the main mast, throwing her knives at it. Eevee was up on the top deck, leaning over the rail, likely watching Titus and Zeke tie the ship to the dock or situated the ramps to unload. Raion went over to her.

"Oi! Titus! Zeke!" he called, "I need you two below deck."

There was an affirmative wave from the brothers and satisfied, Raion turned his attention to Eevee, "I want you to go ahead and meet the Dragon at the Wave and Water Inn. It's gonna take a while to unload the rock and I don't want to be late. She'll be there at sundown. You'll recognize her instantly. Loads of curls, black hat, dragon tat on her spine. And a big dude tailing her," he pantomimed with his hands as he spoke.

He handed her a piece of paper with the inn name on it, gave her a once over then headed back to the cargo hold, "Take Margherita with you, if you want," he tossed over his shoulder at her.

Evelyn accept the piece of paper, her eyes quickly scanning the contents. By the time she looked up, he was already walking away. "Yes sir, senchou," Evelyn called back to him, a hint of a smile playing at the edges of her lips. Excitement followed his retreat. He was trusting her to do something a pirate would do.

She was being trusted to leave the ship, enter an unknown city, and meet up with a notorious smuggler at an inn, all without an escort of body guards. Before joining his crew, such an occurrence would have never been allowed. How exciting!

Evelyn whirled around and spotted Margherita by the main mast. The girl had been unusually unpleasant towards Evelyn for the last day or two, but Evelyn was determined to gain her favor. With Raion's blessing, she hurried over to the snake girl. "Margherita, can you accompany me on shore to meet up with the Dragon Smuggler? The obsidian is going to be unloaded into carts while we fetch her."

In answer, Margherita raised a hand, and with a flick of her wrist, send a small dagger flying right past Evelyn's head to bury itself into the wood of the mast with a dull thud, making Evelyn jump. Her eyes widened, and Margherita smirked with enjoyment, until Evelyn burst out, "Wow, that was amazing! I can't believe how accurate you are, I could have sworn you were going to hit me, but you didn't! You'll have to teach me sometime, how to throw knives like that."

Margherita's smirk melted off her face, replaced by a foul scowl. "You're plain daft...Fine, I'll come to the inn with you, but only because I'm sure I'll get skinned if I don't and something happens to you."

Evelyn grinned, delighted. She saw this as a minor victory in her crusade to get the girl to like her. "Wonderful! I'll just grab my pack, and we'll be off."

Half an hour later, Evelyn and Margherita stood outside the door of the Wave and Water Inn. Evelyn's eyes constantly scanned the crowed, eagerly looking for a mass of dark curls and a black hat. They were a little early, but Evelyn had insisted because she hadn't wanted to miss the woman.

"Well, we might as well get a drink while we're waiting. Come one, Doctor," Margherita said with a disgruntled sigh, sounding peeved. Evelyn couldn't tell if it was because they were early or if it was her own presence that was annoying the snake girl. Evelyn agreed, and followed Margherita inside, shouldering her pack self-consciously.

This wasn't her first time in an inn that was frequented by criminals, but it was her first time _being_ a criminal in one of these inns. Her eyes darted around the room, eyes wide as she drank in the assortment of individuals inside. It was loud, crowded, and carried an aroma mixed between hot stew, beer, and the body odor of its patrons.

She instantly felt out of place, looking down at her soft pink dress. She didn't look at all like a criminal. Maybe she should invest in a change of wardrobe...

Feeling nervous, Evelyn hurried closer to Margherita, following directly behind her as they made their way to the bar.

"We'll take an ale and a lemonade," Margherita said to the bartender once they reached the bar, and Evelyn felt her cheeks grow warm when the man's eyes skipped over Margherita's diminutive frame and landed on hers. It was obvious who the lemonade was for, and Evelyn wished the girl had ordered her a beer too, even if she'd never had one.

"Well would you look at this!" A deep, baritone voice said from behind Evelyn. She whirled around, and had to crane her neck back to see the face of the brute of a man that towered over her. He was bulky with a wide unfriendly face and black eyes that glittered like true black obsidian. "We have ourselves a _lady_ here...maybe the lady would like to dance with me, eh boys?" The man guffawed as he looked back at a few men standing behind and to the side of him.

"No, thank you. I'm waiting for someone," Evelyn replied politely, keeping her chin up. Despite the fact that her insides shrank with instinctual fear, she didn't let it show. She remembered Sabo's lesson about appearing brave even if you didn't feel it. Sometimes it was enough to win you the battle.

"Waiting on someone eh? Well you can dance while you're waiting," the man grinned savagely and reached out a hand to grab her wrist.

"Don't touch her," Margherita's acidic voice cut through the air like a knife, and quick as the dagger she'd thrown earlier, she yanked Evelyn behind her and crossed her arms over her little chest, glaring up at the man without a single shred of worry on her face. In fact, she looked disgusted by the man. "Why don't you go sit down like a good boy and leave pretty ladies like her to real men." Margherita jabbed a thump over her shoulder to indicate Evelyn, but she said the words 'pretty ladies' in a somewhat jeering tone that reminded Evelyn that the girl obviously didn't think she belonged as a pirate.

Evelyn sighed a little, wishing she could do something to prove to the girl that she _did_ have what it takes to be a pirate.

There was a stunned silence for a moment, then the giant of a man burst out laughing, slapping his thigh and tossing his head back. "Real men? And do you think a little chit like _you_ is going to make me?"

Margherita smirked, revealing a fang. "My venom would knock you on your ass so fast, you'd think a train hit you," she said confidently, shifting into her half form and hissing in a soft, deadly way, her forked tongue slithering across her red lips. "So give up and go home, asshole, and leave us alone."

Margherita half turned, as if the man was no longer worth her time, but he shot out a heavy hand and gripped her shoulder, "Bitch, you don't tell me what to do."

"I warned you..." Margherita said with a hiss, whipping around and reaching out with a hand that had extended talons. She gripped the man's wrist...and her nasty smirk melted right off her face.

The big man's grin was taunting, and he didn't release Margherita's shoulder. Evelyn frowned, confused as both stared at each other through a heavy silence. Then Evelyn saw it; Margherita's nails hadn't gouged holes into the man's skin, in fact, they hadn't pierced it at all.

His skin was made of rock, of a light brown color that made it hard to tell in the dim light of the tavern.

"Snake bites don't work on rocks, little girl," the man said in a graveling voice, his expression pleasantly nasty. Then he pulled back his other hand, and decked Margherita in the face.

Evelyn let out a small scream before she could stop herself as Margherita's little body dropped to the floor, instantly out cold.

"And I don't take kindly to be bossed around by a bunch of chits like you," the man continued, his voice rising with his obvious temper. "Especially when I get called a little _boy_ in front of my men!"

The hand that he had gripped Margherita's shoulder shot forward and wrapped around Evelyn's neck. "Who do you think you are, bitch? Too good for the likes of me? I'm the badest motherfucker in here, I'm the _best_ thing you're gonna get, so don't you turn your little nose up at me, whore." Evelyn could see the anger in his eyes, and it drove terror into the bit of her belly. This man clearly had anger issues, a fact confirmed by the nervous looks his men were giving each other.

"Now boss...we don't want to attract the marines in here or something..." one of her men said in a shaky voice.

"Shut up," the giant cut him off with a glower that instantly silenced a good number of people in that direction. He turned her face back to Evelyn, who was having trouble breathing at this point. Her fingers grappled with his hand, but his flesh was as hard as stone, and her efforts were useless.

Without letting her go, he bent down and grabbed a fistful of Margherita's shirt, hauling the unconscious girl up. "At least you're smarter than this cunt, though."

Fear for her nakama gave her more strength that she'd ever muster for herself. Seeing Margherita, helpless in her state of unconsciousness, in his grasp gave her a shot of adrenaline and bravado she'd never felt before. "Don't touch her! If you leave her alone, I'll come dance with you," she offered instantly, struggling ever harder against his grip. Her voice came out in a rasp as he slowly squeezed her throat.

The man's eyes bugged out with anger once more, and he dropped Margherita in order to slap Evelyn across the face, hard. "Don't tell me what to do!" he bellowed. "Who the hell gives you bitches the right to tell me what I can't and can't do?" He shoved her back up against the bar, so hard she feared her hips were going to shatter. She cried out, but the sound was cut off by his squeezing hand.

Evelyn desperately tried to say something, anything, but all that she could produce now were choking noises. The man pulled his hand back again, and let lease a punch that went directly to her stomach, knocking what was left of the wind in her lungs.

She gagged, sure she was going to throw up, but his constricting grip kept the contents of her stomach from getting through her throat.

"Boss, you'll kill her!" a nervous man said from right behind the giant. With the same hand he'd just punched Evelyn, the man decked his own crew mate.

"Silence! Who cares if she dies? She's just a woman," he growled, shoving her back against the bar again. The pain was so great that Evelyn's vision wavered, and she went limp in his grasp. "See, she's already feeling less uptight," he joked cruelly, shaking her small form a little and causing her head to wobble across her shoulders like a doll's.

The boys had just finished loading all the obsidian into the cargo crates and transporting them to the docks when Raion got an extremely uneasy feeling. It was sundown. They were due to meet Rouge any time now.

He glanced around the docks. It was fairly deserted; most people were wrapped up and headed to the taverns for dinner and drinks or back to their homes after a long day's work. There was nothing suspicious going on here.

"You okay?" Sabo's voice asked behind him.

Raion frowned, "Something's wrong."

"With the girls?"

He shrugged, "I have a real bad feeling. Like, something horrible is about to happen."

They locked up their cargo in one of the barracks and headed to the Wave and Water Inn. Long shadows painted the dirt streets as the sun sank behind the buildings. The town was drenched in golds and reds, like the color of blood. The palette made him sick to his stomach. But it wasn't his sickness; it was too residual almost. It was the girls.

He instantly regretted sending them alone, even though he knew, rationally, that Margherita was capable of taking care of not only herself, but Eevee too.

He shoved open the door to the Inn so hard it bounced off the wall, Sabo at his elbow and the twins behind him. A few things happened. First, every single pair of eyes glanced at him and those too weak-willed to stand his presense immediately fainted onto the tables. Second, all the eyes still open widened and people nudged each other, muttering about the Dark Prince or the Black Mambas. A few teased the idea to leave, but no one dared to get up.

Raion zeroed in on the scene happening right near the bar. A behemoth of a man was holding a tiny little woman up by her neck and another little body lay at his feet. A little body with a navy blue pixie cut and snake tattoos. Raion craned his head to the side, black rage rippling over him and as soon as he ascertained the identity of the woman in the man's hand, he was furious.

"Care to explain what's going on here?" he asked, his voice so deadly calm that people actually shoved their chairs back to get away from him. His right hand clicked open the two swords at his hip.

The behemoth of a man turned around, "Nothing that concerns you, your highness," his voice dripped sarcasm over the 'your highness', "Just putting some chits in their place."

Faster than anyone could take a breath, Raion was behind the guy, the very tip of his sword under his nose, "Those 'chits' happen to be nakama, so if you like the configuration of your face, you'll let her go. Now."

The man glanced at Eevee under his palm, then back to Raion's sword under his nose. He laughed, "You wanna boss me around too, punk? Lookit what happened to your 'nakama' who bossed me around!" he nudged Margherita's limp form with his toe, none too gently, "And this chit! Acting all tough for her friend! You want her? Here!" he laughed and with one fluid motion that made Eevee look little more than a child's doll, he tossed her across the room.

Titus moved swiftly and caught her in his big arms, cradling her gently.

Raion's temper skyrocketed, "You have just made my bad list," he growled.

"Come at me, punk! Those puny swords of yours won't work on my rock-solid skin!"

The fight was over in less than thirty seconds. No devil fruit could stand against the power of Busoshoku Haki imbued in two legedary meito blades. Raion had to exercise self-control and not kill the man. Unlike his father, he didn't mind killing his enemies, but his father's teachings were never far from his mind; there was a time and place for killing people and in the middle of a tavern wasn't one of them.

He sheathed his swords and nudged the rock-man's body with his booted toe, "Someone come collect this trash," he said. No one moved for three of four heartbeats. Then, a couple of the rock-guy's nakama came forward. Raion paid no more attention to them and grabbed Margherita and hauled her over his shoulder. Half of her face was covered in a mottled shade of blacks and blues.

Just then, the door burst open for the second time that evening. Standing in the shadow of the dying sun was a tiny little woman in dangerously short shorts, a black stetson and a bikini top. Behind her was a big dude with cargo shorts and an open button down. On his hips were two long-barrelled revolvers.

The woman came into the Inn and pushed her hat off her head, "Wooo! You could cut the tension in here with a knife!" Rouge exclaimed, "Trouble, cuz?"

"Just cleaning up some garbage," his reply was steely, which in and of itself explained his volatile mood, "Let's get outta here."

Margherita came around first, stirring on the cot with a groan. The first words out of her mouth were foul curses that she muttered as she pushed herself up into a seated position. All eyes in the room zeroed in on her, and Rouge, standing closest to the pixie-cut woman, let out a slow whistle.

"How're you feeling, pixie-punk?" Rouge asked with a lopsided grin. "I bet your face feels like a popsicle on a sunny day, right?" she added with a wicked chuckle that earned her a black stare from Margherita.

"Shove off, Dragon..." Margherita hissed back, reaching up a hand to gingerly touch her puffy cheek. "Man, that asshole really decked me...Wait, how did I get on the ship?" she asked in confusion as her eyes drank in the scene. She glanced around the room, and saw that every one of their nakama was crammed into the small room, and someone was laying down on the proper doctor's bed set up across the room from where her cot was.

That someone was Evelyn.

Margherita blanched, remembering what happened right before she'd been knocked out. "What happened? Did the doctor pass out from fright?" Her voice was laced heavily with sarcasm. She couldn't help it; she gets punched in the face and she gets the cot? Plus, Raion was hovering over her like a mother hen after finding his lost chick.

At her words, Titus shifted around to stare at her, as did Sabo, and her line of sight to Evelyn was cleared. Her jealousy and irritation died away, and the color drained out of her face. Evelyn looked terrible, with black and blue bruises on both sides of her face. She was still wearing her pink dress, but there was a smudge of dirt and a flick of blood on the stomach of the gown, and the sight made Margherita's own stomach clench in pity. She'd been punched there, sure as day.

"What...happened...?" Margherita asked in a much quieter voice.

Rouge moved away from Margherita and cut through the much larger bodies of Titus, Zeke, and Sabo until she was standing at the head of the bed. "We have to get her out of that dress to really assess the damage. It's not proper for you hunks to be in here for that, so why don't you take Margherita outside, find her a slab of cold meat for her face, and tell the girl what happened." She reached behind her head to remove the hat that dangled across her shoulder blades, then placed it on the counter behind her. Cracking her fingers, her eyes skimmed over Evelyn's form with a look of disgust and sadness on her face. "The poor thing wouldn't want to wake up to all y'all goggling at her like idiots anyways. I may not be a doctor like uncle Chopper, but he taught me enough that I can get her cleaned up and asses her for anything broken. Lukas should be back any moment now from settling that rock you got me."

Seeing his sister on the open ocean was always a bit of a trip for Sabo. Since he was very young and since around the time that Rouge had displayed a will to head out to the ocean, one mantra had been drilled into his head: She is not your sister.

With family, she was the best sibling he could've asked for. On the ocean, he was a pirate, she was a smuggler. He was "just another nakama of her cousin Raion's". He kept his distance from her, both spatially and emotionally. Thankfully, their coloring was different and while Sabo could be Ace's twin except his blonde hair, Rouge actually looked more like their mother. They both had Ace's mischievous smile.

Sabo wasn't a D, so he was capable of feeling fear. He didn't feel it often, because his greatest fear was very real and very rational and nothing could ever come close to matching it.

He feared his own existence. If someone were to ever, EVER even guess at the fact that he and Rouge were related... if it were to ever get out that his father was the not-so-late Portgas D. Ace... well. He could just imagined the Buster Call that would come down hard and fast on Roctortue Island. Snap. Gone.

So he tried not to have too much interaction with Rouge if he could help it. He coveted his existence, horded it deep in his heart and at the bottom of his stomach, locked down so tight that not even under threat of death would he reveal it.

Rouge ushered them all out of the Infirmary. Titus gave Margherita his arm as she stumbled a little coming out. Zeke disappeared into the kitchen and came back with an ice bag for her head. She sat down on the stairs and cradled it to her bruised facade.

Sabo watched his captain. Raion was livid still, that much he could tell and he was amazed that the senchou was keeping his temper under wraps. Usually when he was pissed, half the Grand Line knew about it.

It didn't look like Raion was in the mind to offer any explanations, so when Margherita looked up expectantly, Sabo filled in the gaps, "We walked in and you were in a heap on the floor and that guy had Eevee up by her throat. He shook her around a little then launched her across the room. Titus caught her."

Margherita's face paled a little under all the colors, "And what happened to that asshole?" she asked.

"I took care of him," Raion replied then. There was no further explanation needed; everyone got the point.

The silence was getting reallllllly tight when suddenly, there was a thumping against the side of the boat and Lukas leapt over the edge. Sabo hoped that he would age as good as that guy was. At 32 years old, the guy was still menacing. Six foot, broad shouldered, packed with muscle, an easy grin that lured you in before he shot your face off. Those two guns on his hips weren't just for show; he could use them long distance, close range and he didn't even need them. Rouge had said that once, she'd seen him decimate some guy in less than a minute without blowing one shot. Sabo believed it. If he had to name the strongest fighters on the ocean, Lukas was one them. He was easily on par with Raion and no one beat the Dark Prince. Except the Pirate King.

"Whoa. It's pretty gloomy around here," Lukas said, his green eyes darting around to each of them. His eyes touched the door to the Infirmary like he was feeling for Rouge before he switched to Margherita, "Hey! You're awake! How do you feel?"

She hissed for her answer, but there wasn't much behind it. She shifted the ice bag a little on her face.

Lukas laughed and glanced at Raion, "Yo. Wanna fight? You look like you could use a fight."

"Hell yes." Raion immediately answered. He drew his swords and Lukas swiftly checked his two pistols.

Sabo joined Margherita on the steps to watch the sparring match.

"I like watching them fight," she mumbled.

He nodded, "It's like a well-choreographed dance."

For some reason, her expression soured a little at that and she didn't say a word.

It was, though, like a dance. Both of them were very skilled in hand to hand combat and both had the Kenbunshoku Haki to predict each other's moves. They were evenly matched.

Raion needed this. He was so furious at what had happened. Mostly, he was mad at himself. It had seemed like a good idea to send Eevee out to meet Rouge. He'd naively thought that it was an innocent enough task so she wouldn't get in trouble. And sending Margherita was just precautionary.

Now, both of his female nakama were nursing injuries and he was left nursing a disgust of himself for putting them in danger.

Lukas suggesting a sparring match was a perfect idea. What a great way to let off a little steam so he could resume being a captain again and not make fucked up choices. He tried to keep his mind blank, predicting all the ex-marine's moves. Lukas was an incredible fighter. Raion had done some close combat training with him for a summer, working on strategies he'd gleaned from years of military service.

It was hard to keep a clean slate when Eevee kept drifting in and out of his mind. The way she had been held up by that brute's hand, the way he'd tossed her so effortlessly across the room. Her lying all broken-looking on the cot, bruises mottling her throat and collarbone, her cheek and eye swollen shut. The blood on the front of her pink dress that no one was particularly sure where it came from. Had she spit it up from being punched in the stomach or did she have some cuts under her clothes?

Lukas got a hit in, slamming him across the cheek bone, "You need to keep a cool head, bro," he scolded teasingly, "I can tell you're thinking about that girl. She's all up in your head space."

Raion came at him again and there was no time for words as swords and fists and guns and Haki was exchanged. Lukas was right. He needed a clear head to spar. He tried to focus, to let go of his thoughts and channel everything he had into his opponent. He could tell he was doing better by Lukas' reaction. The guy smiled and things got a little more intense.

Minutes or hours could've gone by before they finally reached their stalemate. Raion had both his swords near Lukas' neck in a scissor lock; one flick of his wrists and he could decapitate him. On the other hand, the barrel of one of Lukas' revolvers was pressed right into Raion's forehead.

Lukas grinned. He pulled the trigger. There was a quiet click and... nothing.

"You walk around with empty slots in your guns?" Raion questioned with a perked brow.

Lukas chuckled, "No. I emptied that one for you. I love watching your face when I pull the trigger. You have no fear."

Raion shrugged and sheathed his swords. Lukas tucked his weapons away. A fair bit of time must've passed, judging by the fact that Margherita was practically sleeping on Sabo's shoulder. Raion wondered what the hell was going on in the Infirmary that was taking so long.


	4. Chapter 4

***** DISCLAIMER, PLEASE READ- A Pirate's Life for Me is the third (kinda fourth) published story in this One Piece Universe that I and Jesachi, u/711995/Jesachi, have written together. Many people really enjoyed the first one, The Way of the Sword and Rose, but Jesachi and I have moved on to other writing in our lives, and we don't think we're ever going to go back and edit these. Therefore, this is a WARNING that this story is completely UN-EDITED and also written as a roleplay between myself and Jesachi, so the point of view switches between the two main characters every now and then. If this bothers you, don't read it :) We are only publishing these because we thought our fans might want to see the direction we took with our One Piece Universe. I hope you enjoy! Raion and Eevee are an amazing couple, and Luffy's entire crew makes an appearance eventually :)**********

Rouge found that disrobing the girl was much more difficult that she'd first imagined, especially when she encountered the corset she had on under her dress. Though it looked lovely, Rouge had no choice but to slice the garment off, knowing she could cause more damage if she tried to remove it properly. Once she had Evelyn naked, she did a proper examination of the girl.

After Rouge's assessment, she deducted that the girl had bruises her tailbone, fractured two of her ribs from the punch she took to the gut, and bruises all over. The bruise across her neck was particularly nasty, and Rouge supposed she may be pained to talk for a short while, depending on how bad her esophagus had taken damage.

After examining the dress, and having seen Margherita's face, Rouge was happy to deduce that the blood wasn't Evelyn's, though she was still pretty beat up. Rouge had a feeling that Margherita's split lip had left some blood on the man's fist, and that had transferred onto the dress during the punch. She could tell it was a transfer from the way the blood was smeared on the material in a small spot as opposed to a neat drop that would have resulted from Evelyn coughing it up.

Which was good news, because coughing up blood was a bad thing.

Time ticked away in silence as Rouge grimly applied the salves already prepared in the room to the bruises, then she wrapped Evelyn's ribs to ensure she didn't fracture them worse, which could lead to a punctured lung if she wasn't careful. She was just securing the bandages across her ribs when Evelyn stirred, and opened her eyes with a soft exhale of a hoarse breath.

Rouge looked up into her face, and grinned widely to see her brilliant violet eyes blinking groggily. "Hey buttercup! Don't try to move just yet, I'm almost done with this bandage..." Rouge muttered as she turned back to her work and finished securing the bandage so that it was tightly pulled across Evelyn's ribcage.

The first thing that crossed Evelyn's mind was the pain that was roaring through much of her body. Her breath hissed out of her body slowly as she fought to control the pain. "Where am I...? Who are you?" she asked in a quiet voice, eyes closed once more.

"Well darlin', you're back on your own dear ship, in your own doctor's office, no less. And I'm Rouge, the Dragon Smuggler. My cousin tells me you're quite a fan of mine." Evelyn's eyes popped back open and widened as she stared up at the pretty women with black curls and bright blue eyes. Rouge chuckled at the expression and shook her head, reached behind Evelyn to help the girl sit up. "Don't worry, my bite isn't nearly as bad as my reputation says. It's much worse, of course." She winked at Evelyn, who felt a blush darkening her already bruises cheeks.

"How did I get here?" Evelyn asked, looking around in confirmation of their location. Then the memories of what had happened right before she'd lost consciousness came back to her, and she gasped sharply, followed by a whimper as her ribs protested the sudden expansion of her lungs. "Is...is Margherita okay...?" she asked in a small, pained voice.

"Oh that punk is fine. It takes more than that to ruin _her_ day, though I bet she's probably pretty embarrassed. Raion took care of the assmunch who picked on you two girls, so you don't have to worry about that either. Some punks think they can push others around because of their devil fruit abilities, but they learn pretty quickly that there's always someone stronger than you." Rouge winked at Evelyn with a wicked smirk, then plopped herself down on a stool nearby, facing Evelyn. "Everyone is pretty worried about you. I did the best I could, but I'm not a doctor, so you'll want to check yourself out too," Rouge indicated with her hand to the bandages across her ribs and the oily goo that was spread across Evelyn's bruises.

"Oh, yes, that's probably for the best..." Evelyn nodded numbly, feeling a little overwhelmed. She had not been expecting her first meeting with the Dragon to be...like this. Her body hurt and her mind felt scrambled.

"I'll help ya out, of course," Rouge added with a smile.

"Thank you..." Evelyn responded somewhat shyly, looking down at herself.

For the next twenty minutes, Evelyn and Rouge worked together as Evelyn instructed her on which salves and ointments she should have used for the most effective healing. Evelyn had to be re-bandaged after a special ointment was applied to her ribs that Evelyn told Rouge would help heal the muscles as well as the bones under her skin. She also instructed Rouge on the differences between the salve Rouge had used on her bruises and the special ointment her family was famous for with bruises.

"You can take some, if you'd like...I've made more than enough for the time being." Evelyn told Rouge, smiling for the first time since she woke up.

"Really? Awesome! I never knew there were so many herbal remedies for stuff like this. My uncle is a famous doctor, but I don't think he dabbles into herbology and apothecary stuff as much as your family has. It's pretty brilliant, if you ask me," Rouge took the bottle of salve being offered to her with a wide grin on her face.

Evelyn blushed a deep red, but grinned back at Rouge with more enthusiasm this time. "Yeah, my family has been at it for a long time. That's how we became noble, I guess. One of my ancestors saved royalty once or something."

"Neato...Anyways, I bet the rest of the crew is pretty worried about you. Are you ready to see everyone?" Rouge asked, reaching for her black stetson. At Evelyn's nod, Rouge smiled and went to the door, opening it wide and calling outside, "Alright you mangy pack of mutts...she's ready to see ya'll now."

Evelyn stifled a giggle, finding that she loved the way the woman spoke. She admired her spunk and easy-going persona. Looking down at herself, she wondered if she should have asked for one of her clean dresses before agreeing to see everyone. Her ribcage and breasts were bound tightly in bandages, offering her some protection that way, and the sheet covered everything from the waist down, but she still felt unusually exposed, especially without a corset and dress on.

Rouge popped her head out and announced that Eevee was awake. Margherita startled awake and looked around a little dazed. Sabo pulled her to her feet and Raion and Lukas happened to be the first ones in the room.

"So here's the scoop!" Rouge declared, her hands on her hips, "She'll live. Just some bone bruises, two broken ribs and that mess around her throat. She'll be right as rain in a couple of days."

Raion felt the balloon of tension pop in his stomach. Bruises and broken ribs? It was nasty, but it wasn't terrible. So the blood on her dress must've been nothing or Rouge would've mentioned it.

Seeing her all bandaged on the gurney made him feel sick to his stomach though. She wasn't allowed to go anywhere anymore without one of the boys. He was never gonna let this happen again. He saw red just thinking about it, about what might've happened if he hadn't shown up when he did... No. It was useless to think that way. The 'what ifs' and such conditionals would just eat him up on the inside if he thought about it. It was done. It was over. She was hurt, but she'd be chipper in a handful of days.

He spun on of the extra stools around and parked it next to her, "You look real roughed up. How do you feel?" he asked her.

Sabo appeared on the other side of the bed and he whistled, "Wooo, girl. No training for you for a couple of days. On the bright side, you're a real pirate now! Getting the shit beaten out of you is like an initiation into the pirate world."

Raion sent him a look and Sabo laughed, "Seriously though. It's probably better if you lay low for a couple of days to recover. Unless we have plans...?" Sabo switched his glance back to Raion as if to confirm with the captain.

He shrugged, "We're pirates. We don't ever have plans."

Next to Rouge, Lukas piped up, "A little off topic here, but girl," he spoke to Eevee, "You need a wardrobe change. I speak from experience when I say that riff-raff will sniff you out like a pack of wolves on meat if you go waltzing around in frilly dresses all the time. You need something more..." he gestured towards Margherita and Rouge, the former wearing a loose tee-shirt and the Dragon in her classic bikini and shorts, "... casual."

Rouge perked a brow at him, "You waltzing around in frilly dresses, marine?"

He laughed and kissed her nose, "Only if you want me to. My point is that you need to assimilate or you'll continue being a target."

"That thug only noticed us because of your dress," Margherita's voice came from near the door. When everyone turned and looked at her - because it was so rare for her to speak much in Eevee's presense and to be using a somewhat kinder tone was equally surprising - "... what? It's the truth. That asshole said 'Oh lookie, we got a lady here'. Not 'ladies'. 'Lady'. It had to be the dress."

Rouge clapped her hands together once in finality, "It's settled then. You need a shopping trip. Me and Lukas just have to make a deal tomorrow night, but after that, if you're feeling up to it, Eevee babe, I'll take you pirate-clothes shopping." she tossed a hand towards Margherita, "The snake-punk can come too if she wants."

The snake girl shrugged, "Whatever. I'll see how I feel."

"Truly...?" Evelyn asked in a voice that was somewhat awed. Her eyes, glowing with admiration as she stared at Rouge, flickered down to her attire, and a deep blush filtered through her cheeks. She wasn't entirely sure she'd want to wear something so scandalous. Then again, Margherita wore things that were definitely less provocative than the Dragon's current outfit.

Looking a tad shy, she nodded her head at Rouge and smiled a little, wincing a little as her cheeks throbbed in protest. "I would truly love that, Dragon."

Rouge laughed, throwing her head back with mirth. When she was done, she shook her head at Evelyn and sighed, "You, my girl, are adorable. You can call me Rouge, cupcake. Now stop looking at me like that and let's get you out onto the deck. I may not be a doctor like you, but I do know that sunlight and fresh air are the best remedies to getting your ass kicked."

Sabo nodded sagely next to her, his expression one of someone trying not to tell an insides joke when his eyes flickered over to the Dragon, then back to Evelyn with an encouraging smile, "You'll feel much better with the sun on your face, that's for sure. We'll even get the chaise chairs out for you, right Zeke?"

The large fishman nodded and turned on his heel without even a word, disappearing out the door.

Rouge nodded in satisfaction, her hands on her hips like an imperial commander overseeing a minion of useless ants. "Good. Now Raion, you help your nakama out there and set her up all cozy like. You should probably keep her company anyways; good company is _another_ excellent remedy to being beaten up. Right, Lukas?" she turned her head towards her husband and grinned wide, winking at him.

Lukas scowled at her, barely masking the twinkle of amusement in his eyes, and shook his head, "That only counts if you're not being held against your will," he told her as he headed for the door.

"Well, it still worked, so I'm swearing by it," Rouge said primly, then stuck her tongue out at Lukas when his back was turned. Chuckling to herself, she turned her eyes back to her cousin, and waggled her brows at him in encouragement, the half grin on her face and the twinkle in her eye saying that she liked bossing him around, especially when it came to encouraging him to be around the pretty doctor she'd taken an instant liking to. "Now get moving you lazy ass."

Raion didn't take kindly to being bossed around. He had always had that attitude of 'do what I want, when I want'. He must've gotten it from his father.

But it was a little different with Rouge. She'd been the general of the gang of Straw Hat kids when they'd been growing up. She told them to jump, they asked 'how high?' That's just how it was.

And old habits died very hard, in this case.

The twins disappeared, presumably to get the chaise chairs from below deck. Margherita did too, mumbling something about going to bed early until it was just Sabo, Raion and Rouge with Eevee.

The Dragon sighed almost wistfully, "Sometimes I miss bossing a crew around."

Raion cocked a brow at her, "Don't get any bright ideas, cuz."

With a flick of her wrists, she gathered all her curls up and made some sort of messy ponytail at the nape of her neck, "Please. I crave solidarity. The Marine is lucky he's lasted this long with me."

"I heard that..." came the faint voice of Lukas from somewhere beyond the open door.

She laughed, "I'll just come boss your nakama around when I feel the urge."

Raion snorted. Something about the way she said 'urge' just put his head right in the gutter.

She narrowed her eyes at him, then brushed by him, slapping the back of his head as she went, "I'll go check on things out here. Oh! By the way," she turned at the door, "I have letter from your mother for you."

"Okay, thanks." Raion nodded.

And..." she shook her finger at Sabo in a thoughtful way, "I have one for you too."

Sabo frowned, "Really?"

Rouge nodded, "From your girlfriend. And from your parents, actually, who miss you. In fact, come with me and we can get them from my boat."

Sabo nodded and flickered his eyes to Raion, who nodded too. To anyone who might be watching - i.e Eevee - it looked like nothing more than Sabo verifying permission from his captain before he took orders from someone else. But Raion knew what it really was. It was Sabo's one very subtly placed opportunity to talk to his sister without anyone noticing it as suspicious.

And then... it was just Raion and Eevee. Again.

He grinned at her, "Just you and me. Funny how this keeps happening..." he leaned forward and tipped her chin up very gently to get a better look at the bruises around her neck. He let out a breath through clenched teeth.

"This won't happen again..." he promised her.

Suddenly, Margherita was at the door and Raion swirled around in his seat. She was floating in and out of the doorway, like she didn't want to come in but she had to. One hand still held the icepack to her face and in the other...

"Here," she tossed some material at Raion, who caught it over his head and hands, "Thought maybe you'd want something to wear..."

He detangled himself from the fabric and realized it was a loose tee-shirt; one of her own. It was startlingly kind that he didn't know what to say for a moment, but Margherita was already gone.

He handed the shirt to Eevee, "Maybe she's warming up to you, finally." he commented, "Put that on and I'll help you out to the deck. Rouge's right; even a little dying sunlight will be good for you."

The shirt, though clean, smelled like Margherita as Evelyn pulled it over her head with a wince and a small hiss of breath between clenched teeth. She didn't know why Margherita was acting so nice to her all of a sudden, but it brought a sense of relief to Evelyn that maybe she was making progress with the small girl. Smiling absently at the thought, she looked down at the shirt.

It was one of the shirts that Margherita slept in, and it came down practically to Evelyn's knees, which was good considering she didn't have skirts or shorts on. At first, Evelyn thought to refuse Raion, feeling that it would be indecent of her to go out of the room wearing only a loose-fitting shirt, but then she remembered the conversation they'd just had about her mode of dress.

She had to be more like a pirate, and pirates were not modest.

Squaring her shoulders, Evelyn pulled the sheet away from her legs and slid off the bed. A deep blush filtered over her cheeks at how exposed her legs were, but she tried her best to ignore it and act natural. Turning to Raion, she reached out a hand and lightly placed her fingertips on her arm, looking up at him with a sincere expression on her face. "I wanted to say...sorry...that I'm so weak and useless to you right now. It must be embarrassing, to have such a weak nakama..." she murmured, looking away from him and down at herself. "I can see now that I have a long way to go with my training."

He was distracted by the smooth length of leg as she crawled into the t shirt and slipped out of the bed that he didn't immediately answer her. She dropped her hand from his arm and he came back into sharp focus.

"Don't apologize," he told her firmly, "Everyone brings different strengths to this crew. I didn't bring you on for your stellar combat skills. I need someone who can stitch worth a damn. Ya, it's important for you to be strong, but don't compare yourself to me or Sabo. We started training in the womb."

He scooped her up behind her knees, gently, mindful of her broken ribs and shouldered out of the medic ward. The sun was dying, casting the deck in deep shadows and oranges and reds. The ocean looked as if it were on fire. The deck was deserted; Margherita was in her room and Raion could hear Lukas and the twins in the kitchen. Rouge and Sabo were gone. A chaise chair sat near the main mast with a blanket folded on the end. Carefully, he set her down and situated the blanket over her legs.

"I'm gonna tell you a story," he said, perching on the edge of the chair and leaning back to support his weight on his arm on the other side of her legs. She was, essentially, under him a little bit. He shifted forward and pushed her hair out of her face, "About how Margherita became nakama. It's a good one."

 _He and Sabo had been on the ocean for probably a month. It was hard work, managing the ship just the two of them, but they were starting to get into a good flow. They_ _'_ _d had their first run in with the Marines, a couple of good ocean storms and a bar brawl. Things were looking good._

 _They docked at some little island to stretch their sea legs and resupply. It was the middle of the day and the market was bustling. Parents out with the children, teenagers out with friends, people socializing._

 _Sabo was complaining about how hungry he was_ _–_ _Raion remembered because the kid had just eaten less than an hour ago_ _–_ _when the shop door right in front of them burst open and a little girl sprinted out. She raced passed the boys and the angry shopkeeper stood at the door, shouting and hollering._

" _Someone catch that little chit! She_ _'_ _s a thief! A snake!_ _"_ _the shopkeeper noticed the boys right in front of him,_ _"_ _You two kids! Go after her and I_ _'_ _ll pay you handsomely!_ _"_

 _They shrugged and headed off down the street after the girl. She was nimble and had a helluva head start, dipping through the crowd. But Sabo was quicker and he burst ahead of Raion and chased her right into a dead-end alley. Raion caught up in time to see the girl lash her hands at Sabo, hissing. Her fingernails were long and a sharp yellow, not like a gross yellow, but a poisonous yellow. They screamed dangerous._

" _Whoa!_ _"_ _Sabo jumped back, faster than her and Raion rushed forward, not bothering to draw his swords. She was just a little kid, a dirty street urchin with oversized clothes and a very tiny body. She was agile though and she turned towards Raion and lashed out at him with those nasty talons of hers. He wasn_ _'_ _t so quick and she swiped him across his bicep, four short scratch marks._

" _Fuck!"_ _he cursed, clasping the wound with his opposite hand,_ _"_ _Fuck! That burns!_ _"_

" _Why are you not on the ground?_ _"_ _she demanded, her expression becoming steadily more horrified,_ _"_ _You should be screaming in pain._ _"_ _Her voice was sharp, yet breathy, like she had a little hiss behind her s_ _'_ _s._

" _Why?_ _"_ _he asked. Damn it, his skin was on fire, but other than that, he seemed to be okay._

" _She ate a devil fruit,_ _"_ _Sabo said,_ _"I'_ _m gonna guess Zoan type, something poisonous. Like a lizard or a snake._ _"_

 _Raion nodded, impressed as ever at Sabo_ _'_ _s sharp intellect,_ _"_ _Well, that_ _'_ _s bad news for you, girl, because I_ _'_ _m immune to poison._ _"_

 _Her body shifted. Acid yellow scales flipped like hundreds of coins over her whole body and from her hips down, her frame shifted seamlessly into a long, yellow tail that curled around her. Compared to some other half form Zoan types Raion had seen before, she was pretty small. Her tongue flickered in and out of her mouth._

" _I ate the Hebi-Hebi no Mi, model: Viper. Now, leave me alone before I have to kill you._ _"_

" _That_ _'_ _s pretty fucking cool,_ _"_ _Raion whistled, assessing her half form. Then, he glanced at Sabo, who nodded,_ _"_ _Hey. Join my crew._ _"_

 _In a flash, she narrowed down to her human form,_ _"_ _What?_ _"_

" _You heard me. Join my crew._ _"_

" _You guys are pirates?_ _"_

 _Sabo nodded,_ _"_ _The Black Mambas._ _"_

 _She narrowed her yellow eyes at Raion,_ _"_ _I recognize you_ _…"_

" _I'_ _m the son of the Pirate King._ _"_

 _She gasped,_ _"_ _The Dark Prince?_ _"_

" _Yep."_

 _She paused for a minute, then smirked,_ _"_ _I get it. Black Mambas. Pirate King_ _'_ _s son. Protecting daddy_ _'_ _s turf, right?_ _"_

 _He shrugged noncommittally._

" _So what do you say?_ _"_ _Sabo asked her,_ _"_ _Wanna join? You got family or something keeping you here?_ _"_

" _No._ _"_

" _What_ _'_ _s your name?_ _"_

" _Margherita._ _"_

" _Oooh. Fancy name for a dirty street rat,_ _"_ _Raion laughed._

 _She hissed at him._

 _He let out a breath and rubbed his burning skin,_ _"Let'_ _s get outta here. I feel like I_ _'_ _m gonna throw up from the poison._ _"_

 _Sabo saluted him,_ _"_ _Aye Aye, Senchou._ _"_

 _They turned and headed out of the alley way. Raion stopped and glanced at Margherita,_ _"_ _You coming?_ _"_

" _I didn_ _'_ _t say yes or no._ _"_

 _He snorted,_ _"_ _My question was rhetorical. I wasn_ _'_ _t offering you a choice._ _"_

" _You can_ _'_ _t tell me what to do. I could say no._ _"_

 _He grinned,_ _"_ _You won_ _'t."_

 _He and Sabo made it about twenty steps before they heard her running to catch up to them. And with a mulish expression and arms crossed over her chest, she followed them silently back to the Hebi-Go._

Sabo followed behind his sister as she led him to her boat on the other side of the docks. He didn't speak, just watching her. She reminded him of home and his heart hurt a little.

On her little ship, he tailed her into her cabin where she shut the door to afford them some privacy. She sighed, "How are you, little brother?"

He grinned, "Fine!"

"Anything new, other than new nakama?"

He thought for a minute, "Not really. Just crossed back over to this side of the Grand Line a couple of weeks ago."

She nodded, "You have new scars on your arms."

He glanced down at his forearms where the lines from Margherita's talons were freshly healed and still a little pink, "Ya… Margherita tried to kill me again."

She rolled her eyes, "Why Raion puts up with her sometimes is beyond me."

"She's good nakama."

"How's your hip?" she changed the subject as she crossed over to her dresser and opened the top drawer.

"Rouge…" he sighed, "It's an old injury, it's fine. Doesn't hurt anymore."

"I know, I know," she pulled three envelopes out of her drawer then shut it, "I ask because Dad worries," her voice dropped a little when she mentioned their father despite the fact that they were utterly alone.

He knew she worried too, but she didn't need to say that, "He always worries," after all, it was kinda his fault…

"Truth. Here," she handed him the envelopes, "One for Raion and those two are for you. Mom and Dad, who miss you, by the way. You really should check in with them now that you're back on this side of the Grand Line. When's the last time you went home?"

He ticked off his fingers, "Ten months?"

She nodded, "Ya, punk, go home. Hug our mother, kiss your girlfriend," she gestured to the second envelope, "That one's from her."

He traced his thumb over the neat, delicate cursive that was Dahlia's handwriting. Sabo. He could hear her saying it in his head, with too much emphasis on the 'o'. "How is she?"

"Lonely as a widow, but generally alright." Rouge shrugged, "But that's the life, right? Pining after a pirate for months on end."

He rubbed the center of his chest, feeling tight. He missed Dahlia more than he missed his parents. Her gold eyes, the hundreds of braids in her hair, her smooth coffee-colored skin. The way she'd curse him out in French or say his name with a lilt over the 'o'. The way she kissed him and ran her hands through his hair…

"It's uncomfortable to be away from her, isn't it?" his sister asked.

"It's always uncomfortable. But I'm a pirate. It's part and parcel to the job. I know that, she knows that."

Rouge chuckled, "Sometimes you talk and Ace comes out of your mouth. He did the same thing to Mom, left her on the island to be a pirate."

"I don't plan on dying though."

She laughed, "Good! 'Cause there'd be hell to pay if you did." She laid her hand on his face for a moment then headed for the door, "Let's head back. I'm starving and Zeke makes good eats."

Evelyn watched Raion's face raptly as he told the story about Margherita. The girl had a much harder life than Evelyn had ever had, and it made her feel somewhat ashamed to have been to wrapped up in her own desire to escape a life that Margherita might have thought was one of privilege.

When he was done, she was silent for a little while, looking out across the fiery ocean as the sun dipped ever deeper into the sea. "Well, I can see now where she gets her strength, both of body and will. Thank you for sharing that with me, senchou," Evelyn said with a soft smile. Now that she was reclining once more, exhaustion was hitting her much more forcefully, and her body ached and burned. She closed her eyes with a small exhale of breath.

She knew she would have to give herself some pain medication if she wanted to sleep peacefully through the night, but for this moment, she was too tired to move, and too secure-feeling to worry, with Raion sitting so close to her.

"Even if...even if you didn't accept me as nakama for my strength or combat skills...I'm a pirate now. So I will strive my best to become less of a liability to you. I want to be a nakama you are proud of..." her words died off in a whisper, her voice ever more sluggish as she drifted off to sleep.

"I'm only going with you to keep an eye on her," Margherita grumbled grudgingly as she jabbed a thump in Evelyn's direction. Her cheeks pinked a little as Evelyn stared at her with cautious happiness, her lips parted in surprise at the sudden change in attitude the young girl had towards her.

Seeing the girl blush, then look away sharply with a scowl, brought a giggle to her throat, but she suppressed it and looked away from her, not wanting to ruin her chances when they were just starting to get good. "Thank you, Margherita-chan," Evelyn said, beaming at first Margherita, then Rouge, who let out a snort and shook her head with an amused smile at Evelyn's excitement.

"You are quite a funny lass, you know that? I've known me a few noble ladies, and none of them had your spunk. All little dolls, these ladies were. You may look like a doll, but you have the spirit of a pirate, that you do," Rouge said with a wide grin, then hopped up on the side of the ship, and dove off.

Evelyn let out a little gasp, shooting forward in fear that the woman had just injured herself badly, then saw something that wiped all other thoughts from her mind. Sleek, black wings sprouted from Rouge's back, along with a scaled tail and scales all over the tops of her arms and along her back. "Oh, glory..." Evelyn whispered in awe, her eyes wide. "What a fearsome woman," she murmured to Margherita, who was watching with less interest, having seen this before. Margherita glanced at Evelyn, shrugged with a roll of her eyes, and leapt over the edge of the ship.

She caught herself on the ladder that lead down to the dock, and Evelyn soon followed, her cheeks red from happiness at the praises of the Dragon Smuggler.

Raion had let Eevee sleep in the chaise for a little while. He pressed his lips to her forehead and disappeared to get something to eat from Zeke. By the time he came back, it was dark and so he lifted her up and deposited her in her bed with her painkillers and a glass of water on her nightstand.

He tried not to be upset about what had happened to her. It was done and over with. Still, as his night wore on and he showered and played music, little blips of residual anger would stab him right in the heart. Sending her out alone had been a rookie mistake. It was one thing to be good at fighting in a comfortable environment; it was entirely another to be fit to combat when you were actually being threatened. He'd been lured into security by his own confidence. He had thought sending her would be an innocent task, that if she needed to shove someone off, she could because Sabo had trained her and besides, he was sending Margherita with her.

It wouldn't happen again.

Eevee spent the whole next day on the ship, relaxing. Rouge and Lukas secured their deal that night and the following morning, Eevee was feeling loads better. Her bruises were even starting to face a little from her magical herbal remedies. Rouge decided to take her shopping.

Raion did not like this. He did not like this at all. The girls had been gone for an hour. Sabo and Lukas and the Twins were keeping him pretty distracted with business that had to be taken care of on board. Cleaning, repairs, odd jobs. Throughout it, he thought about where they were and what was happening, but generally absorbed himself into his task.

Now he had some downtime. And his mind was making him crazy.

What was happening? Was everything okay? He tried to press his Haki out and feel for them, but he was coming up empty. Which was a good thing because in reality, no news was good news in that regard. He'd know if something was happening before he'd know if something wasn't.

Lukas laid a hand on his shoulder, startling Raion, a testament to how distracted he was.

"Dude," Lukas said, "You need to relax. They're fine. Rouge is with them."

"I should have gone too," Raion grumbled, "Just in case."

The ex marine laughed, "Rouge can handle herself and those little chicklets just fine. Who stormed Impel Down and rescued yours truly from the darkest cells?"

Raion nodded, "I know, I know." but it wasn't a question of Rouge's skill to keep everyone safe and sound. It was more about his ability to stay sound of mind while he waited, "I'm just gonna... check on them. I'll be right back."

"Bro, not a good idea. Think about what the Dragon is gonna say..."

"She won't even know I'm there. I'll be like a shadow. Just gonna check."

Lukas held up his hands like he was cleaning them of Raion's mistakes, "You're on your own."

Raion nodded and vaulted over the side of the ship. He just wanted to check on them, then he'd come right back.

He came, he checked, he really should leave.

He stood in the shadows of an alleyway, across the street from where he could see them in a little female clothing boutique. His bandana was wrapped around his head, pulled low and he was fiddling restlessly with his Log Pose on his wrist. He glanced through the windows. Eevee flitted around the shop, appearing and disappearing from view. Rouge did too, though with less... dancing about her step. She was a little surer and Margherita... Raion knew instinctually that she was in there, but he hadn't actually seen her blue hair yet.

He really should leave. Clearly, they were fine. But he couldn't bring himself to actually make the effort yet.

Fifteen minutes later or so, the bell above the shop door tinkled and they came out, ladened with bags. Shit. What the hell were they buying? Eevee had full arms and Rouge and Margherita each had a couple, though whether those bags were theirs or Eevee's remained to be seen. They must be getting her a completely new wardrobe rather than just a few pirate-y things.

He hoped the corsets were safe from being tossed out with the rest of her noble clothing. He liked those...

They started heading down the street and Raion gave them about a minute head start before he came out of the alley to follow them slowly. What was he doing, really? He needed to just leave...

"I'm really not sure about this..." Evelyn said hesitantly, looking down at herself. She reached down to try and pull the shorts down lower for fear her ass was exposed. "It seems awfully small..."

The heavy red curtain dividing herself from the little boutique was jerked back almost violently, and Evelyn let out a surprised squeak, her hands shooting down to try and cover herself.

"Small? Girl, that's _conservative_ for a pirate," Rouge strut her way into the changing room, then rolled her eyes seeing the way Evelyn was trying to cover up. With a wicked grin, Rouge grasped her hands and tugged them up, and then to the side, forcefully turning Evelyn around like a man spinning his dance partner, her bright blue eyes roaming over the younger woman's frame. "Damn, you look hot. You cover up this sweet body of yours wayyyyy too much."

A blue-haired pixie face peered around the curtain, and Margherita's eyebrows shot up in surprise. She let out a whistle and nodded her head in agreement, "Dragon-lady is right, you look good," she said somewhat mulishly. Her stand-off behavior was slowly melting away the longer she was with the two other girls. Evelyn even caught her smiling every now and then throughout their shopping spree.

Evelyn's face burned, but she forced herself to look in the mirror again. She was wearing a pair of rich leather shorts almost as short as Rouge's pair, along with a tight white shirt that was ripped along the sleeves and down the collarbone, revealing the swells of her breasts. It was less pirate-like, and more toward's Rouge's fashion sense, even revealing a strip of white skin across her belly.

"It doesn't seem particularly pirate-like..." Evelyn said reluctantly, turning of her own accord to see how tight the leather was across her butt.

"Who cares? You don't look like a bonnie wee lass who got lost in a bar anymore. We can find more pirate-like clothing though, if you'd like...but you should definitely get those shorts," Rouge nodded down at the leather hugging Evelyn's ass.

Turning back to the front, Evelyn reached up and placed her hands over her breasts, feeling the breast-band underneath the material. "I feel so naked without a corset on," she added, glancing over at Rouge.

The woman perked a brow, then her expression turned thoughtful...then wicked, as a slow grin crept over her lips. "Corsets are very pirate-like," she told Evelyn, her eyes twinkling.

Evelyn blinked, then frowned. "But those are under-garments..."

"The kind you wear certainly are," Rouge conceded, then reached down to pick up Evelyn's dress and shove it into the girl's arms. "Here, get dressed, we're going to another store."

An hour later, Rouge was feeling pretty satisfied with herself. She felt that her mission to make Evelyn more pirate like, and to make it as sexy as possible, had been a huge success. She was, after all, well known for her attractiveness as a criminal. Who better than she to get the little lady all corrupted in terms of fashion?

Now that she felt satisfied with the choices she'd made for Evelyn's sake, she could deal with the annoying pesk that had been hovering for the past two hours. She hadn't dealt with it earlier because she frankly hadn't cared, but she wanted her little protege to make an entrance when they finally returned to the ship, so peeking from this point on was a no-no.

"One moment chicas, I've got a rodent to get rid of," Rouge said pleasantly, then hopped up from one of the chairs situated outside a cafe. Soon, she'd vanished from their views like the sneaky smuggler she was. It didn't take her long to track Raion down and find where he was hiding up on the roof. She'd known exactly when someone had started following them, two hours ago. Eventually she'd managed to 'sense' that it was Raion, and had stopped worrying.

Rouge dropped down directly behind Raion, her sleek dragon wings folding against her back and vanishing as she shifted. "Alright, I've been very lenient in letting you follow us like a lost puppy, cuz, but your backstage pass had officially expired. I've got to get that girl all dressed up and ready for her return to the ship. It's gonna be a big reveal and everything. So scat. I know you've been tagging us for the past two hours, but come on, creeper much?" Rouge said with a crooked smile as she shook her head at her cousin.

Raion resisted the sigh of defeat when he saw Rouge suddenly spring from her chair at the cafe like it was on fire and disappear. Annnddd... done. He knew she was coming after him. Ah, hell, he gave himself too much credit, really. She probably knew all along.

He felt her presence behind him as she landed on the roof where he was perched. He shouldn't have stayed as long as he did.

He turned around and crossed his arms, "I just came to check on the girls." he shrugged.

"We'll, they're fine, peachy keen."

"I can see that," he said, turning and glancing over the edge of the roof where Margherita was actually managing to make conversation with Eevee, "And I haven't been here for two hours. I'm not that big a creep."

"You totally have, don't lie."

"No way. Maybe only an hour and a half, tops."

Rouge made a face that made Raion particularly uncomfortable, "Rouge..."

"I distinctly sensed someone following us for two hours. I assumed it was you."

Oh, that made him really uncomfortable, "Tell me more. What do you mean?" he stretched out his Haki, even as he glanced back down at the girls. Nothing seemed amiss. He didn't sense anything unusual and he was particularly keen today, not wanting to miss anything.

"I don't know. If it wasn't you... then..." Rouge shrugged, "I don't sense anything now."

"Me neither."

"Maybe you scared them off or something," she slapped him behind the head, "Now, time for you to get scared off! I have a debut to plan! Scat!"

"Keep your eyes peeled, I'm serious."

"Ya, ya," she waved, "I got it covered, cuz, now beat it!"

Raion rolled his eyes and with one last look over the edge of the roof at his nakama, he headed back to the ship to wait for said debut.

What could possibly be inside those colorful little bags?

Try as she might, Evelyn could not get her blush to go down as they headed back towards the ship. After Rouge had up and left them for several minutes, she'd returned and insisted that they were going to get her ready for her 'debut' as a pirate. Unsure of what she'd meant, Evelyn had allowed Rouge to usher her into the cafe's bathroom, where they spent the next twenty minutes fussing over Evelyn.

Of the many outfits that Rouge had picked out for her, Evelyn had to admit that this was one of her favorites. Her legs were covered in tight black leather pants that disappeared into a pair of knee-high leather boots that had flowers and vines embossed into the sides and a slight heel that was reminiscent of the boots she'd worn under her skirts, but far more functional.

On her top half, she was wearing a loose white cotton shirt that billowed around her arms and was tucked into an intricate corset that went on the _outside_ of the shirt, snug beneath her breasts and stretching down to her waist. The corset was made from black leather and was laced up the front instead of the back. More intricate designs of vines and little flowers was embossed into the leather, though far more subtly than those on her boots. The corset cinched her waist, but because it didn't reach up to her collarbone like her other corsets, her breasts were bound only in a breast band, under the white cotton blouse, and Evelyn had to fight the urge to flatten them with her hands. The blouse was tied together by two little strings that cinched the neckline, but Rouge had purposefully left them loose so that the shirt fell off of both shoulders, leaving them bare, and revealed the top of her cleavage.

After complaining that she felt very bare around her shoulders and throat, Rouge had "remedied" that by tying a black ribbon around her throat as a choker. Around her wrists, gold bangles tinkled every time she moved. Her long hair had been left down, and curled around her shoulders and back in shinning waves.

A belt secured her pants to her hips, and a small pouch had been tied to it that held her switchblades and other stealth-fighting implements that Sabo had been instructing her on. There was even a dagger that Rouge had slid down the back of her pants that Evelyn could reach at the small of her back.

In the mirror, Evelyn had hardly recognized herself. She had to admit, she looked...sexy. But it was such a foreign feeling that it made her feel bashful rather than bold, despite Rouge's constant schoolings on how she needed to become more sassy. Margherita had snorted and laughed at that comment, making Evelyn blush even more.

She didn't look like herself in the mirror, and she hadn't even believed her eyes at first. When had she become so...edgy? Gone was the softness of a lady's polite smile, and the lace and gowns. Staring at herself in the mirror, she felt, for the first time, like she was...Eevee, instead of Evelyn.

Eevee...She'd let the word roll around in her head, trying to decide if she liked that. Raion had always called her that name, even when they were young, but now the rest of her nakama called her that too. Was she Eevee now, instead of Evelyn?

"Eevee..." she'd murmured to herself, and let a small smile feather over her lips as she stared at herself. It felt...right.

As they approached the ship, Evelyn, or, rather, Eevee, could tell that many people were staring. She resisted the urge to hide behind Rouge, who strut like she owned the dock. Margherita brought up the rear, rolling her eyes and scowling at the sailors and pirates who'd collected to watch the three females. Twice, when men had whistled at them, she'd hissed back and flipped them off, making Rouge flat-out laugh.

When they reached the dock that their ship was moored at, Rouge insisted that Margherita go first up the ladder, then turned to Eevee. "Ready m'dear? You're gonna be a hit, don't worry a thing. You'll find that getting up this ladder just got so much easier for you." Rouge winked, then turned towards the ship, intending to make her own way up, then paused and glanced back over her shoulder, saying in a hushed, conspiratorial voice, "don't forget to push your hair back and show off those nice shoulders of yours when you get up there." Then, with a grin, Rouge leapt up to the deck using her dragon's wings.

Feeling immensely self conscious, Eevee reached up and placed her hands on the ladder. Steeling herself, she took a deep breath...and climbed up.

As she clambered up onto the deck, she could hear Rouge's voice as she excitedly exclaimed about the 'debut' that her 'little protege' was making. Titus and Zeke had obviously already been on the deck, cleaning weapons that gleamed in the sunlight. Past them, Eevee saw first Sabo, then Raion as they emerged from the cabin.

Her eyes instantly locked on Raion, and without even thinking, her hands moved on their own accord to pull her hair over one shoulder, twisting it a little nervously. "Well...?" she asked everyone in a shy voice.

When Raion returned, he and Sabo disappeared into his room to discuss where they were going to go next. Sabo had expressed a desire to go home for a bit.

"Miss Dahlia?" Raion teased him.

Sabo laughed, never one to get upset over much of anything, "Of course."

"God, I don't even know how you do that."

"Do what?"

"I don't know, like, commit like that."

Sabo rolled his eyes, "I'm gonna laugh at you the day that love slaps you right in the face."

"Bullshit. I don't fall in love."

They decided on a tentative course for the Straw Hat's Island. It was always a bit of an ordeal to try and get Sabo home, because of obvious complications like gee, his father being supposedly "dead". It was easiest to head to Raion's home and then it wasn't hard for Sabo to get back to his island from there. And it kept the crew from finding out anything more about Sabo than was absolutely necessary.

This decision had just been made when they heard Rouge making a fuss outside.

"Looks like they're back," Sabo grinned in sneaky way.

Raion shoved him and they exited the cabin. He spotted Margherita and Rouge right away. Then behind him, Sabo whistled.

Pulling herself over the ladder and onto the deck was... well, it had to be Eevee. If he hadn't known her by her red-brown hair and the wide violet eyes and the way she walked, he wouldn't have recognized her. She was... he had no words, his brain a little shell shocked. But the way his mouth went dry and his heart did a little giddy up in his chest was enough to indicate that she was hot as sin.

Granted, he thought she was adorable and lovely before and she made everything in him stand to attention, but this was... it was completely different. Her long legs were wrapped in black leather pants, tucked into brown boots with a black corset - fucking a', those corsets, he couldn't get enough of them under her clothes, not she had some for the outside? - and a white blouse that advertised her bare shoulders and pushed up her breasts. Lots of breast, more than he'd thought she'd had...

"Oh, dude, you are in trouble now..." Sabo muttered under his breath to Raion before raising his voice, "Damn girl! Now you really look like a pirate!"

Raion leaned against the banister, more for support than anything else because he was pretty sure his knees would give out, "Rouge, cuz, you really outdid yourself this time," he turned his eyes to Eevee, "Girl, no one is gonna fuck with you now unless you want them too." Shit, he'd really like to fuck with her... really check out what she was wearing...

The trapdoor that led to the lower decks burst open and a sake barrel popped out, followed by Lukas. The man took one look at Eevee, then looked at his wife and patted the belly of the barrel, "Anyone wanna celebrate tonight?"

The expression on Raion's face when he saw her only made Evelyn's face darken, but it also bolstered excitement in her. It felt like a success, and she smiled slowly, ducking her head to hide her expression.

There was overwhelming consent to the suggestion of a party, and Evelyn felt swept along by a wave of good humor as sudden bolster broke out among her nakama, as well as with Rouge and Lukas.

"A good pirate party to inaugurate the new pirate lass," Sabo said with a grin, leaping over the railing and down to the deck, moving over to overshadow Evelyn with his hands on his hips. "We'll get you good and sloshed so you can even swagger like a pirate rather than prance like a fairy," he said teasingly, reaching out to pinch her cheeks, then chuckled and bound off in the direction of the men's cabin.

Evelyn blinked, then let out a nervous giggle. "Sloshed?" she asked in a good-natured voice, turning her head to look at Rouge with a questioning look.

Rouge burst out laughing, shaking her head as she moved to drape an arm over Evelyn's shoulders. "You'll learn soon enough where the term comes from. Doesn't matter, kid, just know that we're about to show you a very good time. When the Strawhats and their offspring party, _everybody_ parties. And we party like partying demons. From the party dimension." Rouge's grin had taken on a somewhat manic expression, and Evelyn's eyes widened at the effect, feeling a shiver of apprehension run down her spine.

Nearby, Lukas let out a bark of laughter, and came to peel his wife off of Evelyn, "Don't scare the girl, Dragon-lady. You're so intimidating sometimes for such a wee thing," he pulled his woman towards the keg, where Titus and Zeke were already filling mugs from the spout. "Have yourself a drink, enjoy the sunset, and have a good time. That goes for you too, missy," Lukas said over his shoulder, turning his head to look back at Evelyn with a more gentle smile.

Evelyn, no, Eevee, nodded her head as she let out a slow, long breath. She focused her eyes on the keg, and watched as Margherita knocked back one of the mugs with a big smile on her face. She maintained the tilt, chugging the liquid, and everyone stopped what they were doing and began cheering her on as she consumed the whole thing in one go. Eevee's jaw dropped with amazement. She didn't know what was in the mug, but she knew that all alcohol had a certain taste that made chugging an entire mug quite impressive.

Feeling only slightly intimidated, but very determined, Eevee strode forward and held out a hand to Zeke, who had a mug in each hand. He turned his head, looked down at her, and smiled a rare smile. Then he offered her one of the mugs, and Eevee felt very privileged as she took it from him. Steeling herself, she took a sip.

Bitterness overwhelmed her tastebuds, and her expression instantly screwed up into one of distaste. This had to be beer, an alcohol she'd seen but had never tried. Now she knew why none of the ladies were ever offered the beverage.

Eevee peeked up from under lashes, and saw that several faces had turned to stare at her, and she felt her face flame. Straightening her shoulders, she took an even healthier swig, and forced her expression to remain stoic, the best she could manage.

Everyone started laughing, and Eevee joined in.

Rouge was right; when the Straw Hats party, everybody parties.

Keg after keg was brought up from below deck by either Lukas or the Twins. They were halfway through the first keg when people from town started calling up to the ship. Just a few guys and girls, brave civilians looking to party on a pirate ship. It was unusual, in fact, one word got around that it was the Black Mamba ship, loads more people started coming.

Raion began playing on the piano. It was lively, people dancing, laughing, drinking. Zeke started getting some food out to feed everyone. Sabo and Lukas dragged out a couple of tables and a whole mess of girls including Rouge and Margherita were on the tables, shaking their asses to the music. Lukas and Titus were paired against a couple of cocky boys from town who thought they could drink the ex-marine and the Fishman under the table. Bets were being placed.

Sabo was running amok. The kid had a metabolism to rival the sun's energy so he had this bad habit of getting really drunk, then really sober, then really drunk, then really sober. So one minute he was dancing on the tables with the town girls and the next he was playing street games with the civilians and stealing all their money on bets.

It was late into the night and the party was still going strong. Raion had been stuck at the piano all night, taking requests. It seemed like every time he went to grab his mug, it was filled with more alcohol. He suspected mutiny. He could practically feel Rouge and Sabo watching him and laughing at him for some reason. Filling his drink and getting him wasted for trouble.

Aside from music and drinking, he hadn't been able to take his eyes off Eevee. He watched her obsessively; even when he was talking to other people, his eyes drifted back to her. When he was playing music, he hardly paid attention to what he was doing. She was a paradox, balancing between exquisite when she would socially engage others like an old pro, to sinfully hot when she'd dance in those tight new leather pants of hers. He couldn't get enough of her.

Someone called out another song and Raion laughed and picked it up seamlessly.

"You know, you are waaaaayyyy more fun that I thought you were, _lady_ doctor," Margherita said to Eevee with a slur to her words. She dropped herself into a chair next to Eevee and draped her thin arm over her shoulders. "And you've got a little spunk, too. You got...you got a lot o' way to come, but you're doing alright, for a noble prig."

Margherita smirked, then hiccuped, giggled, and leaned in to Evelyn to pat her cheek.

Eevee burst out laughing, then her eyes widened in alarm and her hands went to cover her mouth at the loud outburst. Then when she realized no one cared and simply talked louder, she dropped her hands with an echoing giggle and nodded her head at Margherita.

"I'm glad you think so, Hebi-chan," Eevee told her, taking another sip of her beer. Throughout their night of getting 'sloshed,' Eevee had decided on a nickname for Margherita, and so far, she'd been able to get away with it. "I'm so glad we have become closer as nakama," Eevee added with another silly grin, swaying a little in her chair.

Margherita snorted and took a deep gulp of her beer. "I suppose so," but the girl was smiling into her cup. Her eyes shot up all of a sudden, and searched across the room. Eevee noticed because she'd done it a few times throughout the night. This time, Eevee turned to follow her gaze.

She was staring at Raion. Who was staring at them, all the while playing the piano as masterfully as ever.

Evelyn felt a shiver run down her spine. She was momentarily mesmerized by his eyes, and their gazes locked. The tension was immediate, and warmth flooded her body. She flushed, and looked away, down at her beer. Meekly, she took a sip.

Margherita was silent, staring at Evelyn thoughtfully. Feeling the burn of her gaze, Eevee perked herself up, slid on a grin, and said, "Do you want to dance, Margherita?" Her actions and her words, just like Sabo had promised, felt 'sloshed.' She resisted the urge to giggle.

Margherita shook her head, then leaned foreward suddenly and pulled Eevee towards her, until she could say in a much quieter voice, "You really like our senchou, don't ya?"

Shocked, Evelyn sat up straight, staring at Margherita. Then she pouted, her hands going to her hips, accidentally spilling a little beer in the process, and shook her head. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said defensively, drunkenly...

Margherita laughed, leaning back and punching Eevee in the arm. The girl let out a yelp, then glared at the snake woman and rubbed the likely bruised spot.

"That's what you get for lying, lady doctor. Don't worry, I ain't gonna squeal to no one. But you should go ask him to dance. I'm sure he'd love to. Believe it or not, Titus can play the piano. Raion taught him." Margherita said with a sly grin on her face, her yellow eyes glittering.

Evelyn blanched, and resisted the urge to look at Raion. "Um, that's okay. Raion is so good at playing, and all..." Knowing that Margherita wasn't going to drop it, because she could see it in her eyes and had come to know the little snake girl, Evelyn suddenly shot to her feet-which proved to be perilous as she teetered drunkenly-then called out to Sabo as he was passing.

Just as expected, the man, clearly on a drunk spree at the moment, drew her into his shoulder and pulled her along as he chased after a man carrying multiple pitchers of beer. Eevee laughed, and joined in on singing one of the pirate melodies that many of the partying people were singing.

Back at the table, Margherita hissed after Eevee, then let out an irritated gurgle, her forked tongue flickering out between her lips. But her drunken mind easily slipped across another idea, and her eyes sidled back up to her senchou. A smile slowly grew on her lips.

Like a dart, she vanished into the crowd. Titus was easy to find pitting himself against some boys and Lukas in a drinking contest. She easily convinced him to take over for Raion when she whispered her reasonings into his ear. That had earned her a wheedling glare, but also a small conspiratorial grin as the fishman got to his feet. Margherita pointed up to the piano, then vanished into the crowd once more.

Not long later, she reappeared, sitting right on the bench next to Raion, leaning precariously close to spilling her beer all over him as she grinned up at him, "Ello' capitane!" Titus appeared standing behind Raion, and dropped one of his enormous hands onto Raion's shoulder.

"Go get your dance on with Evelyn. She's never had a proper pirate partner in a good pirate jig," Margherita winked at Titus, who smiled a little, and nodded.

One moment, he was watching Eevee and she turned to glance his way at the same time and their eyes locked. His heart all but stopped in his chest. He didn't know when he decided this, but at some point, he'd decided that her eyes were the most fascinating feature on her face. Sure, he dreamed about her mouth and her face as a whole was delicately structured like a lady, but her eyes just… they were so expressive. They gave her away before anything else did. Wide, brilliantly purple with dark lashes. Sometimes, she'd line them with black kohl, like tonight, and it was nearly impossible to stop looking at her. He knew that if she wanted to, she could kill a man by just looking at him.

He practically tasted the sexual tension that rolled between them and it was only when she broke the contact with a sweep of her lashes and buried her face in a beer mug that he was freed. His pulse was racing under his skin, the liquor sparking little fires in his bloodstream. Shit, he was hammered.

Eevee and Margherita disappeared from his immediate sight and he took that moment to survey the surroundings. The ship was packed with bodies, people dancing and drinking. He spotted Rouge, dancing near the center of the crowd with a whole bunch of females, but no man got close. He suspected they didn't dare.

Zeke was opening another keg. Titus used to be deep into a drinking contest, but it looked as if he'd left Lukas to his own devices. And Sabo was leaning precariously over the side of the ship. Raion watched, his first thought that his best friend was blowing chunks, but then Sabo hefted something huge over the side of the ship. A speaker. Well. Looked like things were gonna be turning very quickly from pirate party to pirate rave. Another speaker was lifted over the railing, then a table…

"'Ello, capitane!" Raion nearly skipped a note in his song as the little snake girl slid onto the seat with him. And big hands descended on his shoulders. He tipped his head back to see Titus standing there, a secret little smirk on his face.

Raion glanced from the fishman to Margherita and back a few times. This was a conspiracy in the making. He could smell it. But his eyes found Eevee in the crowd, dancing and singing with some guys from the town, then over to where the DJ was getting set up. To get close to her and dance with her a little…

"Fine," he agreed, wrapping up the song and sliding off the bench. Titus smoothly replaced him, "Doesn't look like you'll have to play long anyway." He gestured to the DJ setup.

"I can swing it," Titus flexed his hands and jumped right into Binks No Sake, a classic. Margherita sat next to him, singing and clapping.

He watched them for a minute, partially to make sure they'd be alright and partially because standing suddenly made his brain do the backstroke, before he set off through the crowd to find his lovely lady doctor.

He found her arm in arm with a couple of people, singing along to the ballad at the top of their lungs. Her delicate face flushed, her auburn hair wild. She looked like she was having the time of her life.

He snuck up behind her and slipped his arm around her waist, stealing her away, "Excuse me, gentleman," he said to the guys she was with, "But I need a dance partner."

They laughed and conceded – obviously – and disappeared and he was alone with her. Up close, she looked like she might post-hot-fuck and everything in him boiled at the idea.

"I'm digging this wardrobe change," he said to her, tracing his hand up her spine and then across the back of her bare shoulders, "I haven't had a chance to see it up close yet…"

Suddenly, there was a sharp squeal and several people yelled in protest. The piano music died away. Raion tore his eyes away from her to see what the commotion was. Sabo. Naturally. On a table with a mic in his hands.

The blonde man tapped the head of the mic, making a hollow noise, "Can everyone hear me?" people cheered and he grinned wildly, "Perfect! You lot ready to party?"

Screaming. Stamping. Cheering. "Okay, okay, okay! Let's give a big hand to…" Sabo glanced at the piano and paused, confused, "… well, I thought it was Raion over there, but it's Titus! Ya, Titus!" more cheering and screaming and Titus waved in concession, "Alright! Let's party!" he jumped off the table as the DJ started mixing it up. Music pumped out of the speakers, reverberating through Raion's ribcage and his lungs. All the strung up lights on the deck went out and colorful lights flashed from where they were set up all around. Where the work for all this came from was beyond what Raion's drunk brain could process.

He grinned at Eevee, "Shall we?"

The combination of Raion's presence, his scent, his touch, and the loud music that was suddenly pumping through the air like a heartbeat, was overwhelming to a drunk Eevee. Her brain was sloshing around in her skull every time she moved her head, and balance had recently become much more difficult to maintain. With every step, she felt wobbly.

But she also felt really good, so she didn't honestly care. She was especially distracted from anything negative with Raion standing so close to her. He seemed to demand her full, undivided attention every time she looked at him.

She was at a level of drunkenness that she'd never been before, and it was incredibly liberating. She found she wasn't worried about decorum or anything at all, really. It made her feel much more like the pirate she's always wanted to be.

Needing his stability, which seemed much greater than her own, Eevee stepped into Raion and placed her hands, albeit a little clumsily, in the proper positions for a partner dance, her hand on his shoulder and the other slid down his forearm, seeking his hand.

She'd never danced to this kind of music before, but she was too drunk at this point to worry about the proper way to dance to anything, really. She tilted her head back to peer up at Raion, finding that his face wobbled a second before steadying. Or, rather, perhaps it was her eyesight.

Smiling, Eevee said, "Yes! I love dancing...you smell good." The words popped out of her mouth without her consent as his unique scent washed over her as she stepped in close to him. Blinking, she looked down at his chest-which was much closer to her face that she'd thought initially-then looked back up at him with a silly little grin on her face, "Don't drop me because I don't know where I left my balance." Her words slurred only slightly, and she hiccuped at the end of her sentence. As if to prove herself right, she wobbled slightly as she adjusted her footing, leaning heavily on him as she did.

She was trashed. But then, so was he. He could handle his liquor better though. She was wobbling all around, but that was alright with him because she was hanging all, over him, pressing her body close to his, digging her fingers into his arms.

The music pulsed across the ship, loud despite being outside. People crowded close, bodies against bodies, pirates brushing shoulders with civilians. The high of the party was everywhere, surrounding him and her, the scent of beer and booze mixing with sweat and sex. This was the type of party he loved, where nothing made sense and all interactions were reduced to feelings and emotions.

Her hands slid over his shoulders and down his arm to his hand, her instinct for partner dancing. But this wasn't that type of dance. Here, with this music, at this moment, there was no such thing as two partners. He snatched her hand, pressed his lips to her palm and then tugged her so she was flush against him and her arms were around his neck. His hands then settled low on her hips, lower than would have been polite for a ballroom dance, lower even than he would've done sober with her. His thumb traced over the ridge of her hipbone.

"This isn't that type of dancing..." he told her wickedly, his mouth close to her ear in an effort to be heard above the music, "It's more like sex than dancing."

Maybe it was the booze influencing him, but just saying the word 'sex' to her had him so lit up on the inside. He wanted to be tight close to her, so close there was no distinction between where he ended and she began. He tried so hard to keep a somewhat professional distance from her during the daylight hours. It was bad enough that he was complicating the shit out of their relationship and blurring the line between nakama and something more but he at least tried to keep them under wraps around the other members of their crew. They were painfully public right now and he frankly, did not care. He wanted to be so far up in her business and the only thing keeping him from doing just that was that he actually gave a damn about her innocence.

Just a little damn, because he would have some part of her tonight.

Raion started moving to the rhythm of the music, coercing her along with him. The friction between their bodies was sinfully hot and within moments, he had his face tucked into the curve of her neck, dragging his mouth along her pulse. He was too drunk to censor anything, completely consumed by everything that was her.

A deep blush, one that was nearly indistinguishable against her already drunk-flushed cheeks, spread across her face at the huskily whispered 'sex' next to her ear. She was so shocked at the connection of how they were dancing to the act of intercourse that she almost pulled back, but then he started dancing against her, and she was lost.

The hard ridges of his masculine form rubbed against her softer curves, and the friction was even more intoxicating than the booze. Her fingers linked together behind his neck, to help keep herself upright and to anchor herself to him. Her brain was moving slower than normal, but she soon grasped the way his hips and torso swayed and moved in tune to the pumping beat spilling from the den den speakers set up around the ship. It was less like the dancing she was used to and more like instinct.

Though their dancing felt much too intimate to be doing in front of so many people, especially with the way he linked it to sex, Eevee found herself unable to care. In fact, her drunk mind could only focus on so much at once, and with the warmth and feel of his moving body pressed close to hers occupying her brain, she forgot about everyone else.

Drawing in a fortifying breath, Eevee began to dance with him, as opposed to simply being moved by him. The friction became far more erotic, a dual dance of bodies. Her breathing came a little short, and her head fell to the side as he nuzzled her neck, giving him more access to the sensitive flesh there. His lips sent delectable shivers down her spine, and a small moan slipped from her lips. Her eyes slid closed, not needing her vision to keep dancing with him. Her body moved sensually, her hips gyrating like a gypsy's in their erotic dances.

His whole body felt hot and tingly, more than just from the booze that pumped through his bloodstream. It was her, the feel of her under his hands, against his body, the taste of her skin, everything. He wanted her so bad. And his ability to censor his impulse seemed to have jumped ship.

He wanted to dance with her some more, to feel the music alive inside him, but his body completely betrayed him. Instead, as the music shifted and the DJ built the music into a steadily building crescendo, his plan changed.

"Come with me," he said, brushing his mouth against hers for an oh-so-short second before tugging her away from the crowd. The crescendo continued to build. He could hear the crowd of people screaming and cheering. So many feels were circulating around him, the music building a deep anticipation in his stomach. He pulled her towards the other side of the ship and the first door he encountered was the girls dorm. He yanked open the door, pushed her inside, slammed it shut and as the crescendo broke and the music pulsated through the door, it also snapped inside him.

Raion pushed her back against the door and with two hands on the sides of her face, he kissed her, hard, demanding. His hands raced over her bare shoulders, over the swell of her breasts and down to those corset ties. He plucked them apart swiftly until he yanked it off her and literally tossed it over his shoulder. Her shirt was next, his hands bunching in the material and pulling it off over her head until it joined the corset. All the while, his mouth barely left hers.

Breath elevated, he pushed back from her and tugged at her again, stumbling through the dark room until he pushed her onto her bed. And as his drunken eyes adjusted to the dark, he realized with a shot that she was topless.

"Fuck," he cursed. His swords hit the ground with a heavy thump, his sash next and he yanked his tee-shirt off over his head and tossed that aside as well. Then, Raion crawled onto the bed with her, forcing her to lie back with his body. He skated his hand up her stomach and ribs until he cupped her breast with his palm and circled his thumb over her nipple. Fuck, he dreamed about her rack, about touching her, about putting his mouth all over her and hearing her moan his name. He didn't waste any time with a preamble of more kissing. Instead, he got right to the punchline and sucked her breast into his mouth, his tongue swirling over the peak.


	5. Chapter 5

***** DISCLAIMER, PLEASE READ- A Pirate's Life for Me is the third (kinda fourth) published story in this One Piece Universe that I and Jesachi, u/711995/Jesachi, have written together. Many people really enjoyed the first one, The Way of the Sword and Rose, but Jesachi and I have moved on to other writing in our lives, and we don't think we're ever going to go back and edit these. Therefore, this is a WARNING that this story is completely UN-EDITED and also written as a roleplay between myself and Jesachi, so the point of view switches between the two main characters every now and then. If this bothers you, don't read it :) We are only publishing these because we thought our fans might want to see the direction we took with our One Piece Universe. I hope you enjoy! Raion and Eevee are an amazing couple, and Luffy's entire crew makes an appearance eventually :)**********

Everything was moving very quickly, and Eevee was having trouble keeping up. Suddenly they were in a dark room, and Raion's lips and body were pressed intimately against her own, driving a new heat to kindle in her belly. She found her breaths coming short, found heat coursing through her very veins.

She wanted him. She burned for him in a way she didn't totally understand, but knew was a carnal desire.

His fingers fumbled at her new corset, and she was so lost in the feel and taste of his lips that she had no resistance to it, physical or mental. He tugged her shirt off, and it was the cold air brushing over her naked breasts that jarred her out of her desirous haze. She was topless!

She'd never been topless with a man before. She felt entirely exposed, and flushed red with awareness. She moved to cover her breasts, but he was already maneuvering her around and towards her bed, heedless of her attempt to hide her nakedness. As she fell back onto the mattress, her hands braced her back. Looking up through the dim light, she registered his curse and the look of pained desire in his face at the sight of her breasts.

It drove rational thought from her brain. She forgot about her want to cover herself, especially as his fingers skimmed the delicate flesh of her belly, and then her breasts.

A hiss of breath escaped her lips, and she let her head fall back; it was spinning, anyway, from the alcohol and the rush of heat that swirled in her belly.

His lips closed over her nipple, and she gasped, sputtering, "Raion!" It was a harsh whisper, not a protest, but an entreaty. His mouth, his tongue against the sensitive bud of her breast, felt...amazing.

A thunderous desire rushed through her, and she arched her back to press her breasts closer to his mouth, panting a little. Her fingers curled into the coverlet, clinging to try and stabilize herself.

He wasn't drunk enough to forget about her innocence, but he was on the border of drunk enough to not care. He did, however, dimly register that she had no idea just what was about to happen, what could happen or how he could make her feel. He could tell by the way she shifted, how her body was in complete reactionary mode. Which was hot, especially the way she gasped out his name and arched her body up into his. But it wasn't totally... enough.

"I get to teach you everything, don't I?" he chuckled and dragging his mouth along her neck, "You have no fucking idea the things I can do to you." he sat up and shuffled down the bed. He yanked her boots off, dropping them onto the floor with a thump-thump. Then, he hooked her pants, "Ass up," he ordered, though he didn't exactly wait for her to comply and sorta forced her to comply by moving her hips up for her so he could peel her pants off.

That left her... in some lacy thing that he almost wished for better lighting so that he could see it better. He ran his hands and fingertips over it and his breath stuttered when he realized it was a thong. Shit, he'd like to fuck her while she wore that. Shit, he'd like to fuck her in general. He wasn't drunk enough to go that far.

After a heartbeat of speculation, he decided that unfortunately, that little thing needed to come off too.

So he took them off. With his teeth.

His mouth moved over her hipbone, his teeth nibbling, hard enough to pinch, but not enough to hurt, then over her legs as he worked those undies off. By the time he made it down to her calves, his patience wore thin and he tugged them off with his hands. And she was gloriously naked in the bedsheets. This... this was exactly what he wanted. A little vicious part of him gloated that he was the first one to see this. But he wasn't about to delude himself into thinking he'd be the last, even if his insides growled at the idea.

Raion slid his hands up her legs until he hooked his palms behind her knees and tugged her back under him again. The only modicum of decency between them were his shorts, which was good because he would have fucked her then and there if he didn't have the foresight to leave those on.

He kissed her mouth, one hand settling low on her hip, the other grabbing her hands, "Hands here," he demanded, guiding her hands up to his shoulders, "Scratch my back, pull my hair, I don't care, just touch me." the harshness of the command was offset by the raw arousal in his voice.

Then... finally. He dared to slide his fingers over her sex. His eyes almost rolled back in his head and he swore, "Fuck," she was so wet for him, "Fuck. Yes." he kissed her again, his mouth barely leaving hers as he worked her over with his hand.

She was naked before she knew it, her alcohol laden mind registering the fact that he was removing her leather pants and the lacy thing Rouge had insisted she buy. Her sluggish brain was occupied by the sensation of the material sliding off of her, of the brushes of his flesh against hers in places no male had ever touched. It wasn't until he was done that she realized the result left her so embarrassingly exposed, in front of a man! This man may be one she trusted and desired, but it was still a new experience, and her resolve wavered.

She flushed again, indecision rushing through her. She tried to cover herself, but he was too fast, sliding his body back over hers, providing her a sense of a semblance of cover as well as distracting her with his proximity. It sent more rushes of heat through her, desire glaring in her belly. It made her forget about decency altogether.

He grabbed her hands, guided them up to his shoulders. His suggestions made her eyes widen, and her lips parted to tell him she would never scratch him or pull his hair, but then his hand dipped between her legs.

A gasp rushed out of her lips instead of words, and her eyes widened even more. Her fingers dug into the skin of his shoulders, understanding now why he'd said what he had. She felt like she needed to hold onto something or she'd shoot off the bed.

"Oh!" She exclaimed in a husky yet startled voice as pleasure spread like fire where his fingers stroked her core. It was like he was a musician and each little strum created pleasurable music that reverberated up her body. Unconsciously, her legs fell open wider. "R-Raion..." She stammered breathlessly, "that...that feels..." She had no word for it, so her eyes fluttered shut as her head fell back.

His blood pressure spiked as she dug her fingernails into his shoulder blades. Oh, fuck him, that was good. That was so good. A little unbridled sexual aggression. Push her out of that comfortable circle of dainty noble's daughter.

Her head fell back against the pillows and he dragged his mouth down the exposed expanse of her throat. She couldn't even string words together. It was so hot, god, he was so hot. He would've sold his soul to Davy Jones to be inside her and not have there be dire repercussions in the morning.

"It feels so good it hurts, doesn't it?" he rumbled near her ear. He sucked her pulse, "I'll fix that, don't worry."

He slid his hand down more, until he could circle his thumb over that little button of nerves at the top of her sex. Slowly, he slid one finger inside her. Damn it, she was so tight, virgin tight. Truthfully, the thought danced around his head about sexing her, here and now, and he'd given it an honest weigh through inside his head. That thought skittered right away. No way, she was way too tight, almost too much virgin. He'd hurt her.

He could feel her body winding higher and higher, could hear it even, in the cries in her voice, "That's right, Eevee, come for me..." he groaned. He sucked her breast into his mouth.

Her thoughts had long since abandoned her. She was reduced to a female body with emotions and sensations swirling through her like a wild tempest. She didn't know what was happening; she didn't care, even, so long as it didn't stop. Something in her was winding tighter, bringing her close to something...something her body wanted, no, craved.

Her fingers dug even deeper into his shoulders, clinging to him as her hips undulated under his touch. Suddenly, something was inside her; his finger. It was startling, but the instant increase in pleasure drove any thoughts from forming in her mind, aided heavily by the alcohol. Her breath stuttered out of her, and the pleasure spiked dramatically, changed to become a deeper, fuller pleasure.

"Raion!" She cried out his name, her head thrashing against the pillow, her hips rising up off the bed to meet his touch, her body acting on its own, eager for more. But she was close. Very close. She didn't know what she was close to, but she needed it, HAD to get there.

He sucked her breast into his mouth, and it was the last straw. Her body pitched over the edge. Pleasure beyond anything she'd ever known exploded through her body. She cried out again, her fingernails digging deeper as her hips jerked and her legs scissored. It was a pleasure so sharp it was almost painful!

Waves of deep heat rolled through her, and the pleasure became too much. Her hips jerked, pulling away from his hand as her whole body shuddered. Her breaths were coming fast, and her heart felt ready to burst from her chest. The alcohol took dominance swiftly after the release, and a wave of dizziness swept through her. She let out a sound, almost a mewling moan, and her eyes struggled open to look up through the dim light.

Watching her come was heady. Her nails pinched into his skin, her hips jerked and her heels gained purchase in the mattress as she fidgeted her legs. Everything narrowed down to feelings, his insides blazing hot, smothering him until he couldn't catch his breath.

He knew this was it for her though. He'd downright shoved her out of her comfort zone. If he tried to get any more out of her, he'd overwhelm her and likely she wouldn't speak to him for days. And they had to live together on this vessel. It was going to be sexual agony to leave her. He didn't know if a cold shower was gonna be enough. He was gonna hear her come again and again in his dreams tonight, if he even got around to sleeping.

She shoved back away from him, from his hand. He crawled over her and brushed her hair out of her face. She looked... flushed and glazed and drunk, her purple eyes dark and wide. He cautiously wondered if she was too drunk to remember this come the morning.

... Nah. He'd just blown her mind. If she didn't remember, he didn't do his job.

His kissed her mouth, once, twice, one hand braced against the bed and the other curling in her long hair. Heat simmered quietly - for now - in his stomach. "Hey," he whispered, tapping under her chin lightly to get her attention, "Lookit me... I'm gonna leave you here. To sleep, alright?"

He twisted his body off hers and planted his feet on the ground. He stood only when he was certain his knees weren't gonna give out on him and after a moment of thought, he turned around and perched on the edge of the bed.

"Sit up," he pulled her arms until she was sitting and he draped his teeshirt over her head and guided her arms through the sleeves. Hell, she looked like she was half asleep already.

His hands shook a little as he tied his swords swiftly to his hips, in fact, his whole body felt like he was trembling. He glanced back at her. Seeing her in the bed, in his tee shirt, post-coital made him feel like a big fist was squeezing inside his chest. It was a new feeling and he chose not to analyze it. Instead, he leaned down and kissed her again.

And then, without another word, he left.

The party was still pumping outside the girls' dorm, but Raion wasn't having it anymore. He felt... rattled. Sexually rattled, though a small dormant part of him thought maybe he was a little emotionally rattled too. Regardless, he couldn't just continue to party like he couldn't hear Eevee's moans in his head or pretend like his balls didn't hurt to the point where he might just throw up.

He made it to his room without being seen, or at least, no one bothered to stop him. He shut the door and ran his still trembling hands over his face. He could still hear her, panting his name, her body thrashing under his. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. Cold shower. Cold shower and he was gonna have to rub one out before he even attempted sleep. His whole body felt tense and tight.

Cold shower later and Riaon flopped onto his mattress, bare ass naked and stared at the ceiling for a long time. A long time. Sleep eluded him. He closed his eyes and he saw her and he felt her. It crossed his mind a couple of times to go out to the party and find another girl, just some chick to fuck so that he could stop feeling on edge. But... he didn't want that. He didn't want some random girl. He wanted that redhead that was sleeping downstairs who was screaming his name in his skull...

He was pretty sure it was dawn before he finally managed to get some rack. Because the last thing he remembered was the noise on deck tapering down and the sky outside his windows getting lighter and lighter.

His dreams were filled with hot colors and Eevee.

A pounding headache woke Evelyn the next morning. It was late in the day, from the slant of the sun through the portholes. Feeling like her whole body ached, Evelyn moaned and rolled over onto her stomach, burying her face into the pillow.

"We'll look who's awake...did the new pirate princess have a good night?" Margherita's voice came from somewhere near. Evelyn heard her footfalls as she crossed the room, and could hear the wide grin she wore in her voice. "Someone woke up in the captain's shirt...so it must have been a good night."

Evelyn's eyes shot open and she pushed herself up from the bed, hazy memories of last night filtering in through her groggy mind. She instantly regretted the move as her head screamed in pain and the bed tilted precariously under her. With another groan, she buried her face back into the pillow, blocking out the light that made her headache worse.

Margherita laughed, and Evelyn felt the bed dip as the slight girl sat down. "I bet you've never been hungover before huh? Sucks big time...don't worry, Titus has something for you to drink that'll help. So tell me, what happened last night?" There was mischief and curiosity in the girl's voice, and maybe a tinge of jealousy, but when Evelyn peeked out at her, she was grinning. Her hair stuck up everywhere and her oversized shirt hung off one shoulder.

In truth, Evelyn wasn't entirely sure what had happened the night before. She remembered bits and pieces, mostly sensations. She remembered the smell of Raion, the taste of his lips...she remembered that he had done something to her that blowed her mind. Pleasure beyond anything she'd ever felt. He'd seen her totally exposed...but everything was so hazy it was hard to remember details.

Her face flamed a deep red and she buried her face back into the pillow. "I...I don't know, exactly. It was..." Her words were muffled by the pillow, and her fingers curled into the material as embarrassment washed over her. "I'm embarrassed! I can't believe..."

Margherita laughed even harder, throwing her head back and holding her sides. When she subsided, she patted Evelyn on the back, "I'm sure it was great. Don't be embarrassed, that kind of shit happens, especially with raunchy pirates everywhere. It may be mortifying to a noble lady like you but remember you're a pirate now. No big deal. Not surprised if you don't remember everything though, you were pretty tanked. It was hilarious."

Evelyn groaned again, her face burning even more as she tried to bury herself even deeper into the pillows.

"Don't worry about it, sheesh. Alright, I'll go get you that hangover cure. You'll probably want to take a bath or something too." The bed lifted a little as Margherita got up, and Evelyn made a sound of consent in the back of her throat.

 _Couple of Days Ago_ _…_

The Den Den Moshi bleeped. Burbank Tobias sat the kitchen table with his wife, Burbank Melinda, enjoying an elegant evening meal. It was a quiet meal… all the meals lately had been quiet. Silent, even. Something was missing from their dining table. The low twittering of female voices, the extra clink of cutlery. Tobias glanced at the seat to his left, its place reserved, for the one occupant that was missing.

His only and lovely daughter, Evelyn.

Perhaps two weeks had gone by since he and his wife had woken up to find a note in the sitting room, explaining that their only child had "run away", to become a pirate. Preposterous. He'd organized a search team, flexed as much of his affluent power as he could to find her. She was nowhere to be found on the Archipelago. No one had even claimed to have seen her.

However, money and power being of no object to the Burbank family, he'd managed to put out a bounty for her. 15 million beris for her safe and sound return. It was a steep price, but it was incredibly difficult to put a sum of money on what his dearest daughter was worth. She was priceless, to him.

He listened as the maid answered the transponder snail. The conversation was light and quick and she came to the table. He cocked a brow at her as she bowed low.

"Burbank-sama," she addressed him, "The call is for you."

"Can it not wait, Jenny?" he replied, "We are in the middle of our meal."

"I'm afraid not, sir, it is about Evelyn-sama."

Tobias stiffened and glanced to his wife, who also tensed. Her pretty face paled and her wide, purple eyes that Evelyn had inherited widened. They both placed their napkins carefully on the table and rushed into the sitting room, where the Den Den Moshi was waiting.

"Yes? Speak." Tobias answered. Melinda waited anxiously at his elbow, her hands folded in front of her skirts.

"Burbank-sama," a man's voice on the other end of the line. Tobias knew it to be Captain Matthias Tigre, the man in charge of handling bounties here on Sabaody, "We have received intel that your daughter has been spotted."

"Where? Is she well?" Melinda interjected. Tobias held up his hand patiently for her to not speak. He understood well that she was terribly worried.

"What have you heard, Captain?" Tobias asked.

"According to our scouts, she was seen docking just this evening at an island. She is in the company of the Black Mamba Pirates."

Tobias tensed and behind him, Melinda gasped. The Black Mamba Pirates. Everyone, even someone such as him who was ill-concerned with the pirate riff-raff, knew who that band of criminals was. The Black Mamba Pirates were, hands down, the most dangerous pirates to sail the oceans this generation, headed by no one less than the Pirate King's troublesome son, the Dark Prince Monkey D. Raion.

"You understand, Captain, that she is being held hostage. She cannot be with them of her own free will." Tobias replied sternly.

"Yes, sir, the order is very clear that should the Black Mambas be apprehended, she is to be brought back here, unharmed," there was the sound of papers flipping, "Burbank-sama, to your memory, have you done anything that might have angered the Dark Prince? Some reason that he might have to take your daughter?"

Tobias thought for a moment and then glanced at his wife. She shrugged and gestured that she should speak. He allowed it.

"We refuse medical attention to all pirates and criminals," she hedged into the microphone. She was the apothecary in the family and Tobias oversaw the business and financial portion of their herb-based medical hospital, "Perhaps at some point we refused his crew?"

The Captain made a note, "Thank you, Mrs. Burbank-sama. We will let you know if we receive any further information."

The transponder snail bleeped out. Tobias hung up and glanced at his wife. The back of her and was pressed to her mouth and her purple eyes were swimming with unshed tears.

"The Black Mamba Pirates…" she whispered, "Of all the pirate crews…"

He nodded. He didn't voice it, but he knew exactly what she was saying. The captain was as wily as his father had been. The chances of his capture and therefore Evelyn's safe return were slim, if not impossible.

"Come, let's finish our supper."

She nodded, "Please, excuse me for just a moment. I'll join you shortly." She turned and headed out of the sitting room. He understood. She needed a moment to compose herself.

Tobias rubbed his hand over his face and then through his brown hair. He wanted his daughter back, yet, what could he do against the most powerful pirate crew in the world, short of hiring thousands of marines to take him out?

He headed back into the dining room to finish his dinner, despite that his appetite had waned considerably.

Raion jerked awake suddenly, sitting up in his bed. The sheets pooled around his bare hips and his skin felt tight and hot. He'd been dreaming, dreaming of a sexy dark redhead tangled naked in the sheets, her hands like hot silk over his shoulders and his name whispered heavily against his mouth.

" _Raion_ _…"_

He ground his hands into his eyes. They felt raw and swollen from a cocktail of lack of sleep and hungover. He glanced out the portholes and then at the clock. Then at the clock a second time, focusing on it. Had he only slept for three hours? Really? It was barely nine in the morning. He was certain he hadn't slept until dawn, at least.

No way was he getting back to sleep now though…

He got up, tossed on some shorts and fished around for a new tee shirt. Then, he washed his face, grabbed his swords and opened his door. The sun was blinding and so he grabbed his sunglasses before daring to go back onto the deck.

It was quiet. There was little happening this morning. Voices drifted up from the docks where men were getting their work started for the day, hauling cargo. Raion walked down the stairs. Titus was awake, a broom in his big hands, sweeping away the cups and paper and dirt. But that seemed to be all that was left.

"Morning, senchou," he greeted, his voice deep and even. He zeroed in on Raion's sunglasses and a smile perked at the corners of his mouth.

"Who cleaned up?" Raion asked, glancing around. He was certain there had been lights and tables and a DJ last night…

"Sabo-fuku did most of it," the Fishman replied, "I told him to get some sleep about two hours ago."

Raion nodded, "And where is he now?"

"In the kitchen with Zeke and Lukas."

Of course. Sabo didn't know the meaning of sleep.

He thanked Titus and headed up to the kitchen. Lukas and Sabo were sitting at the table, looking over the newspaper together. Lukas literally had a beer pint filled with coffee in front of him and Sabo sported his customary 'I haven't slept in days' mad scientist look with the hair straight up and the wild eyes.

They both looked up when Raion entered and the captain paused as both his best friend and his cousin-in-law grinned at him with knowing, mischievous looks.

"I'm not even gonna ask about your night," Lukas grinned, "We saw you leave the girls' dorm half naked." He tipped his chin at Raion's face, "Nice shades, by the way."

Raion shook his head and dropped his ass heavily into a chair. Zeke came over and brought him coffee. He didn't even have a response. His mind felt like molasses frozen over, "What time'd you lot get to bed?" he asked instead.

Lukas flipped the page in the paper, "Rouge passed out around 3 or 4."

"I haven't slept yet," Sabo said.

"Figures." He turned to Zeke, "What about you, big guy?"

The Fishman shrugged, "Late." He replied. He wasn't much for words.

Zeke started laying out a big spread when Lukas paused and frowned at something in the paper. Sabo did the same.

"What?" Raion asked, feeling their anxiety heighten.

"Eevee's in the paper…" Sabo hedged slowly, then turned the page around and slid it across the table to him.

There she was, her picture the first thing he noticed. He hardly recognized her. Her hair was done up, her makeup making her look like a porcelain doll come to life. He scanned the article under her name. His nerves prickled uneasily.

"Kidnapped…" he commented, the word nasty in his mouth, "She wasn't kidnapped…"

"Did you see her bounty?" the ex-marine stood and leaned over the table to point at the paper, "15 million beris for her safe return. That's a lot of money for catching a little noble girl."

"Her family is disgustingly wealthy," Sabo said, "And she's the heiress of her family's highly successful apothecary and hospital."

Lukas leaned back down into his chair and crossed his arms over his chest, "Once the scouts find out she's with you guys, her bounty's gonna go up, you realize this, right? I'm positive that that price right there is just what the family is willing to pay for her return. The marines will start adding beris after that."

"I don't get it," Raion frowned, "She's not a pirate yet. It's not like this is a wanted poster. Why would the marines fund for her return?"

Lukas sighed, "It's tricky with kidnap victims. Typically, the family pays the marines to issue a bounty and the marines publish it. When the victim is returned, the marines pay the hunter. But when the 'kidnapper' happens to be an infamous criminal… depending on how dangerous the criminal, the marines will match the bounty reward because it's in their best interest for the victim to be returned so that the marines can question them."

"So her bounty will go up when they find out she's with us?" Sabo asked.

Lukas nodded, "And most likely she'll become highly targeted."

Raion cupped his chin in his hands and stared at her picture, "What would happen to her if she were returned?" he asked hypothetically.

"Interrogated for days, probably, for information about your crew." Lukas shrugged, "Her family's uber prestigious so she won't be tortured."

"No one's gonna get her," Sabo stated, "She's too quick and we keep close tabs on our girls."

"You say that, but who got the shit beaten out of them three days ago?" Raion growled. He shoved the paper back across the table, sick of looking at it and stared straight at Sabo, "She goes nowhere alone and she doesn't know about this, understood?" there was little sense in having her worry needlessly. He'd be her personal escort until this fizzled out if he needed to be. Nothing was gonna happen to her.

Sabo nodded.

Raion took a deep breath, "Alright. So, Lukas, you and Rouge sticking around or what?"

The ex-marine laughed, "I have no idea. She runs the business end of things, bro. I just make sure no one fucks her shit."

Raion snorted, "Except you…"

Lukas threw bacon at him. Sabo laughed.

Later that afternoon, Lukas and Rouge's plans changed with one phone call.

It was after dinner. Everyone was lounging around the deck. Sabo, Lukas and the twins were playing card games and the three girls were sprawled on the grass in bikinis and towels. Raion was up by the helm, deciding on their next track. Sabo wanted to head home for a bit and Raion was just rethinking that plan and wondering if maybe Rouge and Lukas would be willing to take him there when the Den Den Moshi rang on the bottom deck.

Everyone froze. The snail only rang rarely.

"I got it!" Margherita exclaimed, rising from her towel and darting for the snail.

"No! I got it!" Sabo chased her, "It's Dahlia!"

The little snake girl laughed, then shrieked as Sabo caught her around the knees and she went down hard. They literally scrambled for control amidst laughter on the deck. When she lashed out with her nails and Sabo had to jump back to avoid their poison, she gained the upper hand and snatched up the phone.

"Moshi Moshi!" she greeted.

Raion instantly got a terrible, terrible feeling. Like, his stomach tightened and his skin flushed.

Margherita's face fell and she turned her head up to look at him, "It's for you…" she said cautiously, "It's Nami…"

He leaped over the railing and hit the deck, his bare feet thumping. He snatched the phone out of her hands, "What's wrong?" he demanded.

"You need to come home," his mother's voice was strained with tears.

"Is Dad okay?" he asked, "Belle?" he could feel everyone's eyes on him. He flickered his eyes to Rouge and Sabo and they immediately stood up, tensed.

"Yes… no…" Nami's voice broke, "It's… Garp's dying…"

Raion froze. His whole body froze, from his heart to his lungs to the blood that ran through his veins, "What?" he whispered.

His mother started to cry, "He's really sick, baby. Chopper's given him about a month. Your father's losing it. You need to come home."

Raion hit the ground hard, sitting on his ass in the middle of the deck. Sabo came right up to him immediately, followed by Rouge. Garp… Garp was dying. Raion loved his great-grandfather, had been very close to him as a child. Him, Sabo and Rouge, in fact, had all be very close to him. Rouge because she was the first baby and he and Sabo because they'd spent summers training in Fuusha Village and staying with Garp-ji-ji.

It was shocking, but… at the same time, he understood that Garp was old. An old man who'd live a long, long life. It was Luffy that Raion was really worried about. His father did not handle death well. Period.

"I can be there in a week," Raion said, numbly, "Have you talked to Belle?" through kinda a crazy set of circumstances, while he spent summers in Fuusha Village, his baby sister Bellemere spent summers at Amazon Lilly with Boa Hancock, very much to his mother's chagrin.

"I just… I just got off the phone with her. Do you know where Rouge is? Her mother can't reach her."

"I'm looking right at her," Raion supplied.

"Okay…"

"Tell Dad I'm on my way," he said.

"I will. I love you."

"Love you." He hung up. Everyone was staring at him. Rouge seemed to not be breathing.

"Get up," he ordered, "We have to leave. Now." He pointed at Titus, "Set our course for the East Blue. There's the Eternal Pose in the drawer under the helm. Haul anchor, raise the sails. Just… do it. Rouge, Sabo. My room. Now."

He marched to his quarters with the two of them close on his heels. He ushered them in and slammed the door.

"Garp's dying…" he said quietly.

It didn't take long for the news to filter through the ship as to why they were picking up anchor and leaving so suddenly. Evelyn had heard many things about the legendary Monkey D. Garp, a former marine who'd worked his way up through the ranks of the Marines and fought battles with the great Gol D. Roger himself. While she knew that he was Monkey D. Luffy's grandfather, she'd never mentally put together the image of Raion with Garp as his great grandfather, which made her feel rather silly.

It saddened her greatly to hear that such a great man was dying, and it saddened her even more when she thought of how Raion must be feeling. She knew even less about the Dragon Smuggler, but she suspected that this man had also meant very much to her. Though Evelyn was hazy on the details, she knew Raion and Rouge acted and treated each other like cousins, so both must consider Garp as their great grandfather. Rouge's smaller vessel had been tied to the back of the ship, and after the den den mushi call, she'd retreated to it and hasn't emerged since. Lukas had joined her shortly afterwards.

After Raion and Sabo had relayed the news and their new destination, Raion had retreated to his quarters. Sabo had also disappeared up into the library, which wasn't terribly unusual for the man, but Evelyn had known it wasn't for research this time. The rest of the crew had grown quiet after that, going about their duties in somber silence.

The weather was on their side, and they were making good time for the East Blue. It would be Evelyn's first time leaving the Grand Line, and she might have been worried about crossing the vast Calm Belt if she wasn't more worried about her captain. All thoughts of being embarrassed about their night together had been forgotten, and rather than wanting to avoid him like she had after the morning she'd woken up, now she only wished she could see him. Do something for him, anything.

For the first night, silence had reigned over much of the ship. Sometime during the night, though, music had began to seep out of the captain's cabin. Raion was playing the piano. The songs were somber and slow, making Evelyn's heart heavy. After that, the music was almost constant. Raion didn't appear in the galley for meals, and wouldn't answer the door when Zeke went to bring him food. Rouge was the same, though Evelyn felt certain that there must be food on her ship, and that her husband would most likely make her eat.

"Have you met Monkey D. Garp?" Evelyn asked Margherita that second night as they sat on the deck together. Margherita was tinkering with some weapons, and Evelyn had been watching the sunset, her bones reverberating with the music coming from Raion's room.

"No, but I've heard great things. Raion talks about him often; I guess he helped train Raion when he was a boy," Margherita answered, her face scrunched up in concentration as she adjusted something on the pistol she was working on.

Evelyn nodded silently, and her eyes were drawn to Zeke when the fishman emerged from the cabin with a tray in his hand. It was the food that he'd left for Raion earlier in the day, untouched. He hadn't appeared at meals all of yesterday or today.

He had to eat...it was unhealthy to carry on like this. She believed that he wasn't intentionally starving himself, but that he was trying to distract himself from his pain and losing himself in his music. She understood because she would often use dance to distract herself from things she'd rather not think of.

Sighing, aching in her chest for the man who'd given her a chance at her dream, Evelyn looked back across the sea.

It was late, certainly well past the midnight hour, when Eevee's eyes slid open from a restless sleep. The music was still humming through the air, but it's notes had changed slightly. She could hear the sharper, more angry sounds between the melancholy serenade. Perhaps angry was the wrong word...perhaps it was more like anguish. Helpless anger.

She wasn't a musician, and she certainly couldn't imagine the way Raion felt, but as a dancer, she'd come to learn how to read music, how to listen for the emotions within the notes, and to express those emotions in her dancing. What she heard now made her ache even more for her captain.

But tonight, now, she couldn't just sit by and listen.

Eevee didn't bother changing her clothes; Raion had seen her in her nightgown before, instead, she arose and headed for the galley. She knew that Zeke's cooking was far superior to anything Eevee could have whipped up, but she also knew that when she was upset, simpler things were easier for her to force down. So she grabbed some crackers, some cheese, and a tankard of ale that she placed on a tray.

When she found herself outside of Raion's door, she hesitated. She had a good suspicion that if she were to knock, he likely wouldn't answer. He may be so engrossed in his music to even notice. So she decided that he was just going to have to accept her help, whether he liked it or not.

Steeling herself for a possible scolding, Eevee tried the door handle. It was unlocked, so she cautiously pushed the door open, and peered inside. "Raion...?" she called in a tentative voice. The music was instantly louder with the door open, and she winced a little to hear the pain in the singing notes. Taking a deep breath, she pushed her way inside, then closed the door behind her. Turning, she faced the piano, tray in hand. "I know you probably don't want to, but I brought you food...you need to eat something," she said, her voice stronger now, more insistent. She'd come here, after all, with the intention of forcing her help on him. She knew it could potentially backfire, but she was a pirate now, and she wasn't supposed to let fear dictate her decisions.

He remembered the first time his parents had left him in Fuusha Village for the summer.

 _He'_ _d been five, turning six years old at the end of the summer. It wasn_ _'_ _t the first time he_ _'_ _d spent considerable amounts of time in the Windmill Village, but seeing as this was the first time he was being left here, well. He wasn_ _'_ _t particularly thrilled._

 _He wrapped his arms tighter around his mother_ _'_ _s neck,_ _"_ _I don_ _'_ _t wanna stay with Ji-Ji_ _…"_ _he grumbled._ _"_ _There_ _'_ _s nothing to do in this stupid village._ _"_ _They were walking through the village, headed to Garp_ _'_ _s house at the end of the lane, set back in the fields._

 _Nami had flicked his nose,_ _"_ _Don_ _'_ _t say things like that,_ _"_ _she_ _'_ _d scolded, albeit gently,_ _"_ _This village is not stupid. You always have fun here._ _"_

 _Raion pouted, eyes trained ahead over his mother_ _'_ _s shoulder, watching as his father gingerly walked his baby sister. Luffy_ _'_ _s hands were holding hers and they were dragging behind as the Pirate King encouraged his daughter to take a few steps._

" _Why can_ _'_ _t you stay?_ _"_ _he grumbled._

" _Your father wants you to learn to be a little more independent,_ _" Nami replied, "_ _And Garp-Ji-Ji can kick start your training,_ _"_ _she turned her_ _head slightly to look at him,_ _"_ _Don_ _'_ _t you want to be a great pirate?_ _"_

 _He nodded, his face still screwed up in that pout,_ _"_ _But it_ _'_ _s gonna suck to be here alone._ _"_

 _Nami flicked his nose again and he winced,_ _"_ _You won_ _'_ _t be alone. You_ _'_ _ll have Garp-Ji-Ji,_ _"_ _she smiled mischievously,_ _"_ _And another friend_ _…"_

" _RAION!"_

 _He whipped his head around. Garp_ _'_ _s house was in view and running and tripping down the lane was a little boy nearly exactly his own age with blonde hair that stuck up all over the place_ _…_

 _He scrambled out of his mother_ _'_ _s arms and raced down the road, his flip flops tripping him up so that his arms windmilled to catch his balance,_ _"SABO!"_

 _They collided, the depth perception and ability to stop compromised by excitement and five-year-old legs. They both hit the ground, laughing._

" _Are you here all summer too?_ _"_ _Raion asked._

" _Ya! I thought I was gonna have to be here all alone!_ _" Sabo replied._

" _Me too!_ _"_

" _I think our parents tricked us_ _…" Sabo'_ _s face twisted thoughtfully._

" _Who cares?_ _"_ _Raion got to his feet and pulled Sabo up too,_ _"_ _We get to play together ALL SUMMER!_ _"_ _he shouted._

 _Behind him, he heard laughing and turned just in time for Luffy to lay his hand on his head as he walked by with Belle in his arms,_ _"See?"_ _his father said, grinning wide,_ _"_ _I told you it_ _'_ _d be fun!_ _"_

This was one of those times that in retrospect, he realized it was a lesson in how to be a good captain. Because right now, he was being a terrible captain.

The call had come. He'd broken the news to Rouge and Sabo. Then to his crew. He gave orders for their route. And then… he just went to his room. And it hadn't occurred to him to leave.

Music was his refuge, always had been. After spending the better part of that first night perched on the edge of his bed, running his hands together as fast as his mind was, he'd disappeared into his safe haven. Music. It poured out of him in a steady stream of emotions. As his thoughts raced, they came out through his fingertips and hearing his own feelings come back at him helped him regulate, somehow.

Garp was dying.

Ji-Ji was dying.

He'd known for a long time, really, if he was being honest with himself. Like, you just know, when it comes to old people, that they won't be around much longer. Garp was like, a hundred years old. He'd lived a long, long life. Maybe not exactly like he wanted sometimes, but it had been his life. He was a distinguished Marine. He raised the son of his greatest enemy to be a fine man. Raised his grandson to be the Pirate King – much to his chagrin, really – and had personally mentored the current Fleet Admiral Coby. He had four fantastic great-grandchildren, three of them pirates, one a smuggler and none of them marines, but that was alright. Raion knew that Garp had little regrets, if any.

Raion had had the privilege of spending time with such an amazing man. He didn't think it was so great at the time, but the summers he spent in Fuusha Village with the old geezer were some of his favorite memories. In actuality, he wasn't so much as sad that Garp was dying. He was upset that there was nothing that could be done about it. Garp was a hero. He should be dying in some epic war, or protecting his disciples. Not riddled with the illnesses of an old man.

He'd known the illness was on its way, though. He'd seen it his last summer in the village. He and Sabo had been sixteen years old. Previous summers… well, no one would have thought that some crinkly old man could lay the smack down on a couple of kids, but damn. He could. Raion's lips curled in a little smile, remembering being drunk as shit at fourteen years old in Makino's. Garp had stormed in, the very picture of a hurricane, grabbed him and Sabo by the scruffs of their necks and hauled them out of that bar. He had made them work their hands to the bone in the fields the next day, hungover. Sabo had thrown up every single hour. Raion had collapsed in the field. It had been brutal.

That last summer though, it hadn't been like that. It wasn't for weeks until they noticed, he and Sabo. They'd disappear for days into the woods or go chase skirts in the village and the Goa Kingdom. They'd train in the surf. Slowly, the weeds started growing in the fields. Garp would sleep through dinner. He didn't yell so much. When Sabo had subtly shown Raion the copper stains of blood on Ji-Ji's handkerchiefs when they did laundry, their routine shifted a little. They stopped disappearing for days and started weeding and working the fields. They started – and failed a lot of times – to cook meals for themselves and Garp.

They'd learned a valuable lesson that summer; how to take care of someone other than themselves.

There would be no more of those life lessons. But Raion was okay with that. He'd learned a lot from Garp, things that no one else in his life could have every taught him because, frankly, he didn't have anyone else as old in his life. You learn a lot from old people. He was sad, sure, because he'd miss Ji-Ji, but he was more emotional for everyone else that was about to be left behind. He was sad for Ji-Ji, who wasn't going to die epically. He was sad for Ace-oji, for Sabo, for Rouge, for his father…

Oh god. His father…

And suddenly, there was a voice in his room.

Raion jumped and the music abruptly stopped. He hadn't even heard anyone knock. He blinked at Eevee, standing there in her nightgown. Why…? How…? What? What the hell was going on?

Reality slowly began to sink in. Little things first. Eevee was in his room, wearing a nightgown. It was night time. She was holding food. Food. He was hungry, wasn't he? When was the last time he'd eaten something? For that matter, when was the last time he'd showered? Or seen the sunlight? Or left his room? How long had he been in here for?

His gaze shifted from her to the clock on the wall. A little after midnight. He wasn't actually sure how long he'd been in here, but he had a feeling something like two days. Really? Two days? He had enough thoughts to keep him going for 48 hours?

He looked around his room, feeling out of it. Like he'd just woken up from a hard nap that he hadn't intended to take. Everything felt a little disjointed.

"Hey," he turned his attention back to her, his voice rough from lack of use. He glanced at the tray in her hands, "Why… put that there…" he pointed to the table next to the piano, "I…" he ran his hands through his hair, "I need to shower… don't… don't go anywhere…"

A shower cleared the cobwebs out of his head. He needed to pull himself together, here. He was the captain, for crissake. He couldn't just alienate himself in his room for days on end. Being the captain meant he was the foundation for his nakama. If he was shaken, how could he expect them to stand up properly? He was allowed to be worried for his family, but not like this.

Raion hiked cloth shorts over his hips and rubbed the fog off the mirror. Dark circled framed his gray eyes and his face looked a little pale from lack of sunshine. And his stomach hurt, so hungry it couldn't make noise. Baka.

He left his little bathroom. Eevee was still there. He ruffled his hair with his hands to dry it a little quicker. And took a deep breath in and out.

"I guess I should say thank you," he said, rubbing the back of his neck, "I fell off the grid there… what's going on?" he grabbed a cracker off the tray she'd brought. It tasted like dry sandpaper in his mouth, but his stomach thought it was a gourmet fucking meal.

Evelyn watched him as he retreated to the adjoining bathroom, her heart heavy for him. The confused and dazed look he'd had when she'd jolted him from his thoughts told her how deeply he'd withdrawn into them. Sighing, she moved over to the table and placed the tray down.

She couldn't imagine how he must feel. Her mother's parents had died before Evelyn was born and her father's parents were extremely uptight individuals who valued decorum over love, and so didn't think it was proper to be overly caring towards Evelyn. Since becoming a pirate, she certainly missed her parents, but as busy nobles she'd spent more time with the maids and teachers than her mother and father. Still, the thought of them dying made her stomach tighten. She would be very upset, especially since they felt like the only family she really had, since she didn't have any siblings or aunts and uncles that she actually saw on a regular basis.

There was a small click as the bathroom door opened, and Evelyn turned towards it, her hands folded in front if her nightgown. Raion emerged from the bathroom shirtless and with his hair wet. The sight of him made a blush seep into her cheeks, the vivid memory of their passionate evening flashing in her mind. She reminded herself that this was not the time to be thinking such thoughts, and mentally shook them free, focusing on his drawn features instead.

"I was worried about you...I came to make sure you would eat something...I wanted to know if there is anything I can do for you...and to see if you wanted to...well...talk or anything." She shrugged her thin shoulders and searched his face, trying to see what he needed from her most, even if that was for her to go away now that he had food. "But I could just leave you alone too, provided you promise to eat all of this." She waved a hand at the cheese, crackers, and beer. "I'm sure your great grandfather wouldn't want you to starve yourself for him," she said with a tentative, gentle smile.

… He didn't really want to be alone. Which was weird, because he didn't mind being alone. But having her here seemed alright. For now.

"You can stay," he said, grabbing the plate she brought and moving it over to perch it on top of the piano. Then he sat back on the bench and tapped the space beside him, "Come 'ere."

She complied and he stuffed a cracker and piece of cheese between his teeth as his fingers darted over the keys lightly. For some reason, her sitting with him at the piano sparked a memory in him. He must be in a nostalgic mood.

"Remember when I taught you how to play the first part of Binks?" he asked her, taking his left hand away from the keys and playing just a few, very simple, very quick first notes of Binks no Sake with his right.

They had been just children, that one summer they spent together. It had been quiet at Makino's one afternoon and he was playing something on the piano, some pirate song and Eevee had been sitting right next to him. She'd asked him to teach her something, so, he'd simplified the first verse of Binks no Sake and they sat there for hours, practicing. She had been terrible at it, but it was fun because they'd teased each other mercilessly over it.

"Do you remember any of it?" he continued, fingering the notes slowly so that she could follow along. He flickered his eyes to the side to glance at her. They sat close enough that their legs were touching and she was in her silly sheer nightgown thing. It made him think of their hot kiss on the deck when he'd taken that off, which then made him think about making her come the other night in her bed. And that made him aware of something he hadn't immediately been aware of because they were nakama.

There was a girl in his room that he was having sexual relations with. That… didn't happen. Ever.

His ears turned a little pink as he scolded himself for thinking that way. She was nakama first. Nakama were allowed into his room. It was just… a side story that he also wanted to fuck her eventually.

Nostalgia hit her hard as he lightly played the notes that he had taught her so long ago. In truth, she actually remembered most of them, because it had been one of the few ways for her to remember her time with the strange little boy that she'd made friends with that summer. She'd known, somehow, that she likely wasn't ever going to see him again, so she'd made sure to remember what he'd taught her so that she had something to remember their time together with.

Over the years she'd forgotten a note or two, and she knew she still couldn't play it very well, but every time she'd sat at the household piano and played that little bit of the song, it had brought a smile to her face. That boy had always had a smile on his face, getting in to trouble and messing around. It had reminded her to be happy at times when the life as a noble had threatened to overwhelm her own happiness.

And now she sat next to that boy, now a man, so many years later. Smiling at him, she reached across him and shoes his fingers away, then played what she could remember. Only twice the notes jarred against what he'd just played. Proud of herself, she beamed at him. "You were a good teacher," she supplied with a little blush. "Will you teach me more of it?"

Though she didn't want to admit it, she was happy that he'd wanted her to stay. Sitting so close to him, she could smell his unique scent, as well as the clean scents of the soaps he'd used. Her eyes strayed to his bare chest, to the muscles so well defined. Her eyes darted back up to his face, not wanting him to know her thoughts, especially given the circumstances and how he must still be feeling about his great grandfather. Still, it was nice just to be with him, in the quiet of the night. It was entirely different than the way they'd been together last...Last time things had been hot and heavy and hazy. Now...she felt overwhelmingly comfortable and safe. It made her heart feel warm.

He chuckled lightly as she shooed his hand away and started playing through the notes, slow and a little unsteady and just barely in beat, but recognizable all the same. He grinned.

"Sure," he replied in response to her request for more notes, "Watch first. And listen," he gestured to her ears with his finger to emphasize the point. Music was different for her than it was for him. He made music with his mind, she made it with her body. Music was his language – he could listen, speak, read and write. Music was her art – it was living, breathing and came out a little different each time. While both forms creative, arbitrary and endless, they were opposites, but one couldn't exist without the other. It just made teaching her tricky.

He played the first notes for her again and added a couple at the end. He demanded her to watch, because that was how she would learn. She was a watch and learn girl because of her dancing. He was a listen and learn guy. But, she needed to learn how to listen too.

He played the notes. She copied them, slow and steady. He stopped her immediately when she messed up, not wanting her to learn mistakes. Back and forth, play, copy. Play, copy, until she had gotten all the way through the first verse and the second verse of the simple, one hand version of Binks.

This was… perfect. This was exactly what Raion wanted to be doing. He couldn't think of anything else he'd rather do at this very moment. It was pure distraction and it was perfect. She was here, it was comfortable and there was music and even the sound of her tsking herself and huffing breath when she made a mistake was perfect.

"Wanna try something a little different?" he suggested, now that she had verse one and verse two down. He stuck a cracker between his teeth and talked around it, "I'll play on this octave the full two verses and you play right there what you just learned. You have to listen, though, so you don't get confused."

He posed his hands over the keys, "Ready? I'll count down."

Though Eevee found she was no better at learning the piano now as she had when she was little, she was enjoying herself a great deal. She felt...comfortable. She could feel the warmth from Raion's body, sitting next to her, and his scent was everywhere in the room and drifted to her nostrils every time he leaned across her to fix her hands. The ship was rocking gently, and not a sound could be heard except for the music they were playing and their quiet voices. The room was gently lit, and the colors were warm and subtle, very suited to Raion. All together, the effect was lulling her in a state of relaxed contentment. In fact, she didn't want it to end.

Smiling, she nodded to Raion's request. She was sure she was going to mess up, especially with him playing too, but she didn't really care. He looked much happier than when she'd first walked into the room, and that had been her goal all along.

They played together, and Eevee made an effort to focus. To her own surprise, she only messed up once, scowling at herself but quickly returning to the correct tune. Together, the sound was much lovelier than it had been alone. When they finished the part she was familiar with, she smiled and sighed, her eyes closing briefly as she absorbed the feeling of the moment, committing it to memory. "You're playing makes my soul sing... I would love to dance to your music again."

Still smiling, Eevee opened her eyes and turned her head to look at him, her eyes dancing with merriment. "I'm sure it'll be much more enjoyable for you than listening to my terrible music," she said with a chuckle in her voice. "My dancing will be my instrument to play along with your music. My fingers simply are not as talented as yours."

He looked so ravishing, with his black hair darkening his features, the utter rapture on his face when he played, and the muscles of his arms and even his shoulders and pecs rippled gently as he flexed his fingers and moved his hands. She found herself starring at him, and blushed deeply when she realized this. She pulled her eyes away and back down to the piano keys, staring at them with much too much concentration and barely really seeing them at all. Her thoughts were so scrambled from just looking at him that she couldn't think of where she was supposed to put her fingers. Her hands hovered over the keys uselessly, and she bit her bottom lip, hoping he wouldn't notice. She felt especially guilty for her feelings when his mind was likely more occupied by his ailing great grandfather than his new nakama.

With the two of them playing the harmony, the song sounded lovely. Granted, it was just Binks no Sake, but he hadn't heard it played with someone else in a long time. And she did a fantastic job, only messing up a note once and he'd made a face at the conflict of sound. Once her part was finished, his fingers trailed over the notes a little longer before he stopped and draped his hands over his knees.

He chuckled and smirked at her comment and leaned in to brush his lips along her jawline, "I think you remember just how talented my fingers are..." he replied. Then, he touched her chin with his thumb and first finger, turned her face towards him and kissed her mouth. It wasn't as passionate a kiss as they'd shared before, but softer and it triggered a different reaction in him. That feeling came back - he was going to dub it the 'Mystery Feeling' because he had no fucking idea what it meant - like someone was fisting his insides and squeezing, making it hard to breathe, like his nerves were dancing on his intestines. He vaguely wondered if it was butterflies, but nothing made him nervous, ever, so he didn't really know what 'butterflies in your stomach' was supposed to feel like.

Did Eevee make him nervous? Why? Women didn't make him nervous. He was pretty confident in how to work his way around the fairer sex.

She was different, though, this Mystery Feeling at the top of a long list of reasons why she wasn't like any other woman. He was starting to think he was navigating through uncharted waters when all his life, he'd always had a map.

He pulled back. She was so pretty, but she was a world apart from the beautiful women that trounced through his life in droves. He'd never seen a pair of violet eyes like hers, with flecks of blue and brown, framed with long dark lashes. Her face, narrow, delicately boned, cultivated through her noble birth. And her hair, straight, with a gentle curl at the bottom, not quite red like his mother's but not brown either and so damned long. There was so much of it. It came down to brush the small of her back.

"You can dance for me anytime you want," he said quietly, shifting his hand from her face to thread through her hair at her neck, "Not tonight. You need to go get some sleep now."

He released her and stretched his arms above his head with a deep breath, trying to dispel some of the feelings in his chest, "Thank you," he added, his ear pinking, "For coming in here to check on me."

Before, his kisses had sent heat through her, made her heart beat faster. This kiss...it stole her breath. She felt suddenly lightheaded and her eyes drifted closed as her bones turned to mush. Without even being aware of it, she drifted closer to him as he pulled his lips away. A soft sigh, barely a sound at all, slipped past her lips and her eyes slowly opened again, finding herself staring at him as he was staring at her. Pink filtered into her cheeks once more, but she didn't break gazes with him. His hand brushed through her hair, and a gentle shiver raced down her spine.

Then the spell was over. He broke eye contact, and stretched. She blinked, looking back at the piano. Licking her lips-and tasting him- she cleared her suddenly dry throat and said "of course. I was worried about you...the whole crew was, I'm sure. Please finish those crackers and cheese before you go to bed. Those are doctors orders, mind you...and I'll have a tonic for you in the morning. It'll help you get your strength and energy back after almost two days of not eating. Nothing much, just some vitamins..." She added with a little smile, knowing how most people acted when told they had to take a tonic.

Eevee got to her feet, smoothing her night down with her hands. "And you're the one who took me on as the crew doctor so you can't say no," she added with a little wink, wrinkling her nose at him. Stealing one more look at his face, she gave him a little wave, wished him good night, and slipped out of his room. When she got back to her own, she tip toed to her bed, and had slid halfway under the covers when a voice came from across the dark room.

"Did you get him to eat?" It was Margharita, and her voice sounded a little groggy, but also worried.

Eevee smiled into the darkness at her. "Yeah...Don't worry, as the crew doctor, I'll make sure everyone on this ship stays healthy."

There was a brief silence, then Margherita said, with a smile in her voice, "you got it bad, don't ya?"

Eevee was thankful for the darkness to hide the new blush that flared across her face. Shaking her head, she lay down and pulled the covers up to her chin. "I haven't the slightest clue what you are talking about," she answered, her voice sounding more noble-like than it had it a few days.

In answer, Margherita just chuckled. Deciding not to think on what the girl had said, Eevee closed her eyes, and let a more peaceful sleep claim her.


	6. Chapter 6

Raion slept FOREVER.

He probably could've slept longer, his body and mind more peaceful after seeing Eevee than it had been for a couple of days, but he was starving. So, finally, he dragged his sorry ass out of bed sometime in the late afternoon.

He jammed his shades on his face before he braved the outdoors. He felt like a groggy mess. He hadn't slept much at all, actually, for the last couple of days. He trudged down the stairs to the lower deck, his feet not cooperating quite as much as he would've liked.

"Well, well, well!" Margherita's voice was the first one to greet him, "Look who's back from the dead!" she was sitting on the grassy part of the deck with Lukas, weapon parts scattered around them. They were both complete gear heads.

Raion waved his hand at them half-heartedly. Lukas gave him a nod. Maybe he was too messed up, but did his cousin-in-law look just as tired as he felt? He decided to dismiss the idea, making a note to catch up on everything once he was fed and caffeinated.

He pushed into the kitchen. Zeke was there, washing and organizing. The guy lived in the kitchen. But the fishman wasn't the only one. Sabo was there too, his head on the table, pillowed on his arms. He looked like he was dozing.

"Hey," Raion tapped his head to rouse him and sat in the chair next to his best friend, "What're you doing?"

Sabo lifted his head and peered at Raion before grinning, "Hey, yourself. I was just wondering about you."

"No you weren't, you were sleeping." He pillowed his own face on his arms so that he and his best friend were just inches apart, "What's going on?" he asked quietly, the question a disguise. What he really wanted to know was how Sabo was coping. Unlike him, Sabo had to cope in silence.

The blonde man shrugged, "I'm not really sure, to be honest. I've been in the library for three days. Lukas dragged me out this morning." He made a little face, "Being a terrible co-captain."

"Join the party," Raion muttered, "You seen the Dragon at all?"

Sabo shook his head, his face completely betraying his feelings of anxiety over his sister. But it was okay for the moment because they were pretty much alone.

Zeke came over in that moment and laid two plates down in front of them and two little vials, "Eevee wants you to have those," he said in his deep voice. And then he swacked the two of them on the backs of their heads.

"Oi!" Raion groaned. Sabo winced.

"Eat. Don't miss any more meals or I'll force feed the two of you," he said. Then, he went back into the kitchen and continued whatever task he was working through.

Raion rubbed the back of his head, feeling thoroughly chastised. Zeke was quiet most of the time and only spoke more than simple phrases if he was aggravated. Which was rare. Raion glanced at Sabo, who smirked. Clearly, the two of them missing three days worth of meals had sent their calm, stoic nakama over the edge.

They tucked into their food, their first real meal in days.

That afternoon, Raion got the scoop from Titus, who had taken over managing the ship during Raion and Sabo's 'absence'. They were making good time, following the Eternal Pose. Technically, the Pose pointed towards his home island, a small fishing island in the northern part of the East Blue just off the coast of the Red Line. But, seeing as his island was less than a day's journey from Fuusha Village, it was fine. Besides, once they passed the Calm Belt and hit normal ocean, he could navigate by standard compass again.

"Based on our progress, we'll hit the Calm Belt tonight, senchou," Titus told him as they poured over the map together. It was a huge, detailed map of this half of the Grand Line that stayed right at the helm, protected under glass. His mother drew it and it was intricately detailed. It was the only map of its kind, as far as he knew and allowed him to navigate his way around the Grand Line without relying solely on a Log Pose. It had dozens of color coded routes and details about how long it would take for the Pose to set on each island and that could determine a change in your route. It was coveted information to him, who craved absolutely freedom and domain on the ocean. His parents had laid the groundwork for him and now, he made the Grand Line his bitch.

"Do we have enough Cola to get us across?" he asked.

Titus nodded, "And Lukas brought over two barrels from his skiff as well, for reserve. We'll have to restock in the East Blue though."

"That's fine. Set the motors to high. I wanna quit the Calm Belt by tomorrow morning. That'll put us at Fuusha Village in…" he did some quick number crunching in his head, "Three days, four, if the wind is against us."

"Aye, senchou."

"And I'll keep watch tonight, in case any creatures bother us," crossing the Calm Belt was tricky business because Franky couldn't get his giant hands on enough sea stone to coat the bottom of the ship. So… Raion's job was to sit on the snake figure head and scare the Sea Kings away.

"Aye."

The captain clapped his hand on Titus's big, gray-blue shoulder, "Thanks for keeping us steady."

Titus nodded.

That night, as predicted, they entered the Calm Belt. The ship stopped rocking. The sails went empty. The sea was so calm, it reflected the stars like a mirror. Despite its name, this belt of ocean water put him on edge. Nothing happened here. It was the desert of the sea. No clouds passed overhead, no weather patterns, no wave patterns. Without a motor and a compass, more than a few sailors would lose themselves in this sea, eternally stuck until either they perished, or, more likely, the Sea Kings got to them. There was no way to navigate.

The deck was oppressively silent. No one liked to come out when they passed the Calm Belt. Noise attracted monsters. In fact, the motor that they used to get across was specially designed to push air rather than water. It consumed more Cola than your standard propulsion engine, but it was far, far safer. Stirring the water stirred up trouble.

Raion leaned over the railing to look into the water. Smooth as glass, except for the slight ripples made by their ship. They were moving fast, faster than he would have normally felt comfortable going. But he needed to get to the East Blue. He needed to see Ji Ji. He needed to be there for his father and it was his worry that was causing him to take risks.

At the same time, he didn't mind a little excitement. That's what being a pirate was all about.

He turned and glanced at the door to the medical ward. He could sense Eevee in there. He strode over and knocked very quietly three times before opening the door.

"Hey," he whispered, "Get out here. There's adventure to be had," seeing the Sea Kings was part of being a pirate. She couldn't miss it. Besides, not that he wanted to overly analyze it, but… he kinda wanted her out there with him. Just her.

The utter silence and stillness of the calm belt was unnerving to Evelyn. She was rather more nervous about this crossing than she wanted to admit. Working had provided her a welcome distraction from thinking about the huge monsters likely swimming beneath them. Quietly making and bottling medicines had become rather soothing after some time, and she fell into a sort of trance-like state as her fingers did work she'd done hundreds of times before.

She was so into her work that she jumped when she heard a knock at the door. Spinning around in her chair, her eyes were wide with alarm as Raion stepped in. Feeling silly for overreacting over something as silly as a knock like it was a Sea King attack, Evelyn blushed. "Raion. You startled me..." she muttered as a way of explanation for her reaction.

His request made her hesitate. Lately, she'd jump at the prospect of being alone with Raion, but her fear of the Sea Kings gave her pause. Biting her lip, she glanced at her worktable, wondering if she could use that as an excuse to refuse. Looking back at him, she opened her mouth to do so, but her eyes drank in his smile, the expectation on his face. Her words died in her throat, and she sighed.

She was pirate now, after all. She was supposed to be brave.

Squaring her shoulders, Evelyn nodded and turned back to her worktable. Quickly, she finished sealing a vial, then stowed her materials away. Then she got up to join him, self-consciously pulling the shorts down a little. She still wasn't used to her wardrobe change, and though it seemed perfectly natural to see Rouge waltzing around in her little shorts, it felt strange on Evelyn. Tonight she had on a pair of jean shorts and a t-shirt with cut-off sleeves that had a generic jolly roger on the front. It was very comfortable and cool, compared to her dresses, but it was strange not wearing a corset and having so much skin exposed.

"I'm not sure what adventures you could mean...it's been so quiet for hours now. We're safe from the Sea Kings, right? Your ship must have sea stone on the bottom or something, right?" Evelyn asked as she exited the doctor's cabin with him. Outside, the stars were bright and the dead ocean stretched out around them like a glittering desert. It was rather beautiful, actually. And eerie.

He saw her hesitate and the rush of disappointment he felt startled him. He brushed it off, mentally frowning at his own insecurity. They were on the fucking Calm Belt, for crissake, of course she didn't want to come out and get eaten by Sea Kings. It had nothing to do with him.

But then she agreed and wrapped up her medical supplies and joined him on deck. He felt instantly better and dismissed his previous brush with disappointment as a fluke.

"Funny story, actually," he grinned, taking her hand and leading her towards the black snake figurehead at the bow of the ship, "Franky couldn't exactly get enough kairoseki to coat the bottom of the ship. It's sorta a commodity for pirates," he helped her up onto the snake head and sat down, his swords resting beside him, "I'm the first and last line of defense that keeps us from being eaten."

He leaned back on his hands and glanced sideways at her. She was wearing shorts and a cut off tee-shirt that hung over one shoulder. He wasn't used to her wardrobe change yet. Then again, he hadn't given himself much time to get used to it. So far, he'd seen all of three different outfits. It was startling to see her in something so… casual when in his head, he pictured her as a princess still in her frilly, flowy dresses. She was taking to the pirate life like a fish takes to water and he was taking to her like the sun takes to the horizon and he didn't know if he was freaked out or not about that yet.

Raion stretched one leg out and glanced over the ocean. It was dark, but not so oppressive that he couldn't see by the light of the thin moon. He leaned into her a little and pointed out, "Do you see the ripples in the water?" he said quietly, keeping his voice low, "Don't panic, but that's one coming towards us right now…"

Sure as shit, less than a hundred feet out, two eyes appeared, each the size of a beach ball, reflecting back at them. They blinked slowly, the translucent film shiny, watching Raion carefully. A nose appeared next, huffing, spraying water. More ripples to his right. Two more eyes appeared. Then two more. He expected as much though. Three Sea Kings was usually the norm. That's how many always came to investigate his ship.

"They know I'm here," he told her, "They're smart. They communicate with each other, tell each other not to fuck with me or I'll fuck them up." He narrowed his eyes and one set of peepers disappeared under the water with a quiet _blurp_. It wasn't always the case that the Sea Kings left the ship alone. Some stupid ones would try to go after the ship, but Raion always took care of them real quick.

Evelyn's eyes went wide as saucers as she saw the Sea Kings poking their head out of the water. A shiver went down her spine and her fingers darted out to wrap around Raion's arm, leaning in to him as if being closer to him would protect her. Her heart started racing in her chest as she considered the enormous size of the monsters that were effectively surrounding their ship. Their size made her feel like a doll in comparison. A very small doll.

All her life, she had heard stories about the vicious brutality Sea Kings were capable of. They were the most feared creatures in the ocean, and could sink a ship within seconds. Stories spoke about how they loved the taste of humans, that they were evil, and other such bed-time tales that made kids wary of going in the ocean. The hairs at the back of her neck stood up in fright just at the thought of them. _Seeing_ them, even in the dim light of the moon, had her body trembling a little.

Raion, however, was as calm as day. She glanced at him, noting the way he was glaring off in the direction of the Sea Kings, and glanced back towards the ocean.

Practically silent, the Sea Kings slowly retreated back into the ocean, and it was mere minutes before the water was as still as glass once more. Only then did Evelyn let out the breath she'd been holding, and relaxed her grip on Raion. She realized, belatedly, that she shouldn't have grabbed on to him. If he had needed to fight, he would have needed that arm. Blushing, she released him completely and scooted over again. "Sorry..." she murmured, looking from the ocean to him and back.

"I can't believe they knew you...That they were able to sense your ability to defend yourself. No one ever told me that Sea Kings were intelligent. That's amazing..." she whispered, her voice low in fear of attracting more of the monsters. "I can't believe that you could take a Sea King down...that seems like an impossible feat. You must be even stronger than I thought..." she added with a little smile, bringing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them.

He hadn't been expecting her to clutch him in fear, first wrapping her fingers around his arm, then slipping her whole arm through his and leaning into him. He grinned a little, despite himself. He kinda forgot that the general population of people feared the Sea Kings. They were widely rumored to be merciless and ruthless, savage predators. Well, maybe not so much rumored. It was a fact, really. With rare exceptions.

"You give me far too much credit," he chuckled, "I've only taken out a few Sea Kings. But they remember and they can sense strength in humans. They know who I am. Trust me though, they don't like to be stirred up," he added, "We had an engine before that pushed water instead of air… it was ugly. Sea Kings every mile. They wouldn't leave us alone." He nodded towards the ocean, drawing her attention to the serpent-like tails that appeared like ghostly shadows, "They'll follow us to the East Blue. They may be smart enough to not outright attack us anymore, but they're highly territorial. If we were to linger here for too long…" he didn't finish his sentence and simply shrugged, "Well, it could be troublesome."

It was quiet, the sea still as a mirror, interrupted very occasionally by ripples made from the Sea Kings as they got a little close. Sometimes eyes would appear briefly, only to disappear again under the surface of the water. Maybe it was just him, but the monsters seemed a little perturbed this time around. Maybe it was because the ship was moving faster than usual.

Then... a pair of eyes appeared off towards Eevee's side, blinking slowly and he knew what was making the Sea Kings restless.

"They're watching you," he commented, his tone amused, "They don't know what to make of you. Usually I'm here alone. They must be sizing you up," he leaned into her, his mouth scant inches from hers, "Quick, gimme a kiss so they know you're strong."

Evelyn tried hard not to be freaked out by the constant Sea King presence so close to their ship, which seemed like a toy in comparison to them. Raion's presence certainly helped; he was exuding such a calm confidence that she truly believed he could keep the ship safe if need be. It took some time, but she was able to relax more.

When a pair of large luminous eyes appeared very close to her side, she had to bite her lip to keep from squeaking in alarm. She wasn't sure if Raion's comment was good or not. She turned her head to look up at him, and found his face close to hers, the warmth of his breath fanning across her lips.

She blushed, her eyes dropping from his gaze to his lips, then back up. "How is that supposed to make me strong?" she asked, confused by his statement, but then she saw the amusement dancing in his eyes. He was teasing her.

Her mouth quirked up at one corner and a small chuckle slipped out. Nodding her head, she leaned in and brushed her lips against his. The contact sent instant electricity down her spine and into her belly, forcing heat to spread through her veins. Wanting more of this feeling, she kissed him again, pressing her lips to his a little more forcefully. Her eyes slid shut, and her shoulders relaxed more than they had since she'd first exited the medic cabin.

It sent a thrill through him that she kissed him first, despite the fact that he all but demanded it. It was brief, so painfully brief that it actually hurt when she pulled back. He didn't have time to protest though, or even take charge before her mouth was back, harder, more forceful and it made him feel like he'd swallowed fire. The boldness of her kiss was hot. He hadn't exactly forgotten the fiery chemistry between them, but suffice it to say his mind had been other places for the last couple of days.

Raion threaded his hand through her hair at her nape, keeping her close, tilting her head to deepen the kiss, his tongue sweeping into her mouth. His other hand looped around her hips and all but yanked her towards him until she was straddling his lap.

He should try not to want her so much. He should try to keep a clear line between nakama and... this. Whatever this was. What was this anyway? It had to be more than one of his flings, or was it just because she was nakama too that everything seemed skewed? He didn't know, he didn't have the answers and he couldn't think about it now when he could feel the heat from her body so close and taste her in his mouth.

His hand travelled up from her hip, pushing her tee shirt out of his way. He encountered skin and it took him a second to process why that was wrong.

"What? No corset?" he pulled his mouth away from hers, his breathing a little unsteady, and cocked a brow at her, "I'm so disappointed..." he trailed his mouth over her neck, his tongue tasting her skin.

His comment startled her, and her eyes flashed open to stare at him. He liked her corsets? She'd stopped wearing them because she thought she should be more pirate like...But if he liked them so much, then perhaps...

Her thoughts scattered when his lips moved to her neck and she could feel the slide of his tongue against her flesh. Her fingers tightened against his shoulders, and she forgot completely that they were out on the calm belt with Sea Kings teeming below the surface. Her world narrowed down to sensations. He'd pulled her onto his lap, and the warmth of his body, between her legs, against her stomach, under her hands, pulled an answering heat from inside her. His scent filled her nostrils and his taste lingered on her tongue.

How is it that he could make her so mindless, so...wanton, with just a kiss, a touch? She'd never before felt these inclinations towards a man, and she'd never realized how heady the feelings were. Now she completely understood the spark in the eyes of the women who'd described sexual relations to her. It was a fire in the blood.

Eevee let her head fall back to give him more access to her throat, her eyes falling closed once more. Her back arched under the touch of his fingers over the bare flesh of her sides, and she craved more of his touch on her skin. Her own fingers slid down his chest, feeling out the ridges and dips of his muscles. Finding the hem of his shirt, she pushed it up, letting her fingertips explore his stomach and pecs.

The warmth of his skin was delectable. She instantly thought that she wanted to taste it. It was such a unique sensation, the softness and warmth of his skin over the hardness of his muscles. Her hands travelled higher, as if she wanted to remove his shirt, dragging her fingertips over his flesh as she went.

Perhaps it was because it was Sabo, who always had such a light step, but Eevee was so engrossed in Raion and what he was doing to her that she didn't notice the blond man until it was too late. He came around the corner towards the masthead, saying, "Raion, I think that-"

His words died in his throat when he saw the two of them, and he stopped in his tracks. The sound of his voice jolted Eevee out of the haze she'd fallen in to since Raion's lips had first touched hers. Her eyes flew open, landed on Sabo, and her mouth popped open in surprise. "Oh no!" she squeaked, instantly removing her hands from Raion's stomach. A hot flush swept over her cheeks, and she scrambled off Raion like he was burning her, nearly falling into the ocean in the process.

Feeling utterly embarrassed at being caught in the act, she couldn't even say anything. Head ducked down with her hair covering her face, Evelyn shot past Sabo. She didn't stop until she was back in the girl's dormitory, leaning back against the door as if she was afraid someone would come barging in. Thankfully, mercifully, it was empty. While she knew that Margherita had sort of figured out that things were going on between her and Raion, she was a woman. It was entirely different to have one of her male nakama find out that she was fooling around with her captain. What he must think of her!

Mortified, Evelyn covered her face and hurried to the bed, sliding under the covers like they were going to protect her from the judging that Sabo was likely doing right this moment. After all, a lady didn't mess around with a man until they were engaged, or married!

She was really turning him on.

In the stillness of the dark, there was nothing but their racing hearts and unsteady breathing. His hands on her skin, pressed flat against her spine to keep her close, his mouth against her neck and shoulder, the subtle but tart earthy scent of herbs and her shampoo. He was so into her and less concerned with the fact that he was supposed to be on watch, keeping the Sea Kings from sinking their ship into a dark pit of hell.

But her hands were tracing over his shoulders and down his chest and watch duty fell to the wayside in comparison.

It was such a small act, but it was enough to make his insides combust and the blood pound right to his cock. It was so bold for her and just the fact that she was starting to initiate more was so hot. Her hands tugged at his tee shirt, sliding under it, over his stomach and his chest. He grabbed her chin and kissed her, the memory of her writhing under him just days ago while she came sharp and clear in his mind. Again. He wanted, no, needed that to happen again. Her hands flipped over and grabbed the hem of his shirt to yank it off over his head...

Sabo's voice scared the ever living shit out of him and he jumped slightly, whipping his head around to peg his best friend with a glare that certainly would have killed him if looks could do that. Eevee scrambled off of him with such force that she almost fell off the figure head and he whirled around to grab her wrist and steady her.

"What the fuck do you want, Sabo?" Raion growled, trying to even out his breathing.

The blonde man puckered his face, sucking back a laugh and suddenly, Eevee ghosted out. She slid her feet to the deck, her hands shielding her face from Sabo's view and beat feet down the stairs. Three seconds later, the sound of a door being shut.

Raion ground his teeth together, "You have no idea how much I wanna beat the shit outta you right now..." he growled.

Sabo burst out laughing, like he wasn't able to hold it back anymore. Bent forward, hands over his stomach, holding his sides. The only thing that saved him from being grabbed by Raion and thrown overboard was the fact that the captain couldn't reach him without leaving the snake head.

The laughter wound down and Sabo straightened, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand, "You know, I don't even remember what I came out here for now." He chuckled.

"I hate you."

The ship suddenly jolted to one side and Raion gripped the railing and Sabo pitched sideways. The captain shifted and glanced over to the side of the ship. The telltale serpent-like tail was shifting in and out of the water, circling the ship.

"Hey! Cut that shit out!" Raion called, "I'll slice you up and feed you to my crew." Oh man, he was rearing now for a fight with a Sea King...

Two eyes, no, more, six eyes, peered out of the water at him. He growled at them, flexing a little of his Haoshoku Haki. The monsters disappeared immediately and the ship settled. Satisfied, he turned his attention back to Sabo.

"Sorry," his best friend said, but the grin made it seem less genuine, "You got it bad, don't you?"

Raion ran his fingers through his hair and shifted around so his back was to Sabo, facing the ocean. His ears pinked, "I don't know what you're talking about," he grumbled, "What the hell are you out here for anyway?" he attempted to change the subject.

Sabo wasn't having that, apparently. He climbed onto the figure head and settled next to Raion. Raion shoved him. Sabo laughed and shoved him back, "You know what I mean. Dude, you don't date girls. It's not your motif to hang around after the sex. So what're you gonna do? Kick her off the crew after you fuck her?"

The captain rubbed his face, "No. I don't know," he muttered.

"You like her."

Raion tensed, then shrugged, "I guess so."

"So why not have a relationship?"

"Because that's not how it works, Sabo."

Sabo laughed, "Bro, that's exactly how it works."

Raion and Sabo watched the sun rise. It was soon after that that they left the Calm Belt behind and the Sea Kings with it. Raion's log pose went still, the magnetic pull of the Grand Line too far away now. The compass on the helm starting pulling towards North though, further indication that they'd now left the world's most dangerous ocean behind.

Sabo convinced Raion to go get some sleep, that he'd manage with their nakama for a couple of hours. He opposed at first, but when he tried to argue, he yawned and that just made every retort he had weak. So, he complied and went to his room and passed out in his bed, his mind swirling around Eevee and the way she ghosted on him.

He was woken up suddenly and rapidly hours later as his door burst open. His first instinct was a sword in his hand before he realized it was Sabo.

"Senchou! Get out here!"

"Wha...?" he rubbed his eyes, his heart racing. Wind whipped through the door and he processed that it was dark outside. He glanced at the clock. It was early afternoon.

The ship pitched under them and Sabo disappeared from view and Raion fell out of his bed. Then, he smelled it. Felt the cool wind.

A storm.

He scrambled to his feet and slammed out of his room. The sky was the color of a bruise, wind tearing at his clothes. The ship rocked under his feet as the waves crashed into them. It took him precious seconds to analyze what was happening, his brain slow from sleep.

"Lukas! Sabo! Furl the sails up!" he pointed at them, "Titus! Take the helm! Zeke, the rigging! Rouge, Margherita! Get rid of these chairs and shit and for the love of all that is holy, DO NOT fall in the ocean. Eevee! Go get the three life jackets from storage for you three," he indicated Rouge, Margherita and herself.

"Raion, I can fly, I don't need a - "

"Yes, you do!" Lukas called from where he was climbing the ropes with Sabo up to the sails.

"Now, Rouge!" Raion didn't leave room for argument and she threw up a hand in consent and started helping Margherita drag in their furniture.

Raion jumped up to the helm where Titus was wrestling the waves. Big fat raindrops started falling, one by one until within seconds, it was torrential downpour. He pulled his spyglass out and looked out into the ocean. Waterspouts, little ones for now, were forming all around them, some distance away, for now.

"Take us 330 degrees north west," he told Titus, raising his voice to be heard over the rain and wind, "We'll get out of the storm and circumnavigate around it. I don't wanna be dragged into those waterspouts."

Titus nodded and cranked the helm hard to the left. The ship lurched.

When Evelyn had woken from a fitful sleep, business had returned to usual on the Hebi-go now that they had exited the calm belt. Raion was nowhere to be seen, and she figured he was likely sleeping. Breakfast had been uncomfortable, to say the least, when she showed up and found Sabo sitting at the table. Zeke, Margherita, Titus, Rouge, Lukas, and Sabo all looked up when she entered, but Sabo's eyes lingered and her face grew hot. A smirk pulled at the corner of his lips, and when she sat down as far from him as possible, she caught his wink.

She ducked her head, feeling like there must be a giant flashing sign above her head that said she was a trollop or something. However, soon into the meal, she realized that Sabo must not have said anything to anyone else. Rouge struck up a conversation with Evelyn immediately, one which Lukas and Titus partook in occasionally, despite their grumpy morning demeanors. Rouge was a morning person, and her energetic air grated on many of the male crew members who had more trouble gaining such energy so early.

"So how did you like crossing the calm belt? Pretty exciting, right?" Rouge grinned, shoving scrambled eggs into her face like she was starving. She always ate that way, much to Evelyn's amazement. Where did she put it all...?

"Well, it was actually less exciting than I thought it would be..." Evelyn put in, trying to avoid Sabo's knowing stare and focused her attention on her plate. The food was delicious, as always, and she lifted her gaze to smile at the chef, "Zeke, your breakfast is wonderful."

The fishman's cheeks pinked a little, but he nodded his head at her as he flipped a pancake on a girdle. It was as much of a thank you as Zeke was capable of, and Evelyn relaxed a little. Clearly, Sabo was the only one who'd found out about her shameful act. And rather than scowling, he was all but grinning at her.

Confused about his reaction, she decided to ignore it, and turned back to Rouge as the smuggler said, "Usually it's a little more exciting than that...We didn't even get attacked once!" She sounded completely bummed by this, and Evelyn stared, a fork full of sausage halfway to her mouth.

Lukas barked out a laugh and reached over to pat Evelyn on the back. He was so strong that the act caused her to drop the sausage from her fork, "Rouge is just adventure-hungry. The more danger, the better. It's giving me gray hairs..." he added with a scowl, looking over at his wife and shaking his head.

Evelyn's brows rose, and she retrieved her fallen sausage. "You are all very brave...Sea Kings are very frightening."

Margherita looked up from the unidentifiable gadget that she was tinkering with and smirked at Evelyn, "Pirate's are fearless, doc, and now you're one too. So grow some guts." Her words were somewhat harsh, but her eyes twinkled with amusement, belying her teasing. Evelyn blushed a little and nodded, squaring her shoulder.

"Good," Titus pipped in, smiling down at Evelyn from where he sat next to her, towering over her much smaller form. Please by his praise, Evelyn beamed up at him, and the fishman shook his head ruefully and returned to his plate.

Several hours later, it was quite early in the afternoon when the skies began to darken at an alarming rate. She'd heard from Lukas that they were making great time, and would be arriving at their destination within a day or two, but this weather didn't look good for that. Evelyn was out on the deck, labeling the many vials and jars that she'd prepared in the last few days. Margherita sat next to her, working on her own tinkering, and Rouge was up on the mast with Sabo, the two of them laughing at things the rest of them couldn't hear. Watching them, Evelyn couldn't help feeling like they were closer than they let on. Something about the way they looked at each other...joked with each other. It was even different than the way Sabo and Raion acted, who were the best of friends.

The wind started picking up at an alarming pace when the sky became so dark that Evelyn had difficulty reading the labels she was making. Frowning, she looked up and across the sea. Her eyes widened at what she saw. The waves were becoming very large...

Just then, one hit the side of the ship, and the vial in her hand went flying as everyone was pitched to the left. With a cry, Evelyn scrambled after it, landing on her stomach with her arms outstretch, her fingers closing over the glass. Luckily it was small enough that it had bounced on the deck rather than shattered.

She was just getting to her feet when Sabo's voice called out, "Storm!" Evelyn turned, and Sabo dropped from the mast to the deck, landing in a roll that propelled him towards the cabin that held the quarters. She was surprised by how quickly he moved, disappearing into the cabin before she could blink.

Storm...?

Unease rippled through her, and Evelyn hurried back to the wooden box that held the rest of her vials. As she leaned down to pick it up, replacing the missing one from her hand, Margherita was also hurriedly picking up the various pieces of her work that were scattered around.

"What should we do?" Evelyn asked, having to raise her voice over the increasing wail of the wind.

"Put your shit away, then come back to the deck. Raion will be up momentarily. He'll direct us. Storms are his forté," Margherita barked back at her, her brows furrowed as she shoved everything into a leather bag she had lying nearly. Her blue hair started whipping around, and Evelyn was shocked by the strength of the wind that nearly bowled her over.

She had never been more thankful than right now that she wasn't wearing a dress. In this wind, the dress would have been a complete nightmare to move around in. Today she wore her new leather pants and a flowing white shirt. Under the shirt, hidden, was one of her old corsets...She'd decided to wear it on a whim this morning, Raion's words fresh in her head.

Her shirt whipped around her torso as she ran for the medic cabin. The door almost flew off its hinges as she flung it open, and she had to struggle to get it to close. Once she'd stored her vials, strapping them down for good measure, she hurried back outside.

Things had gotten even worse. Frantically, Evelyn reached back and secured her hair with a tie to prevent her long strands from blinding her in this wind. Soon, rain started to fall, and her eyes found Raion as he raced across the deck towards the helm. He was shouting orders, and she had to strain to hear them.

"Go get the three life jackets in storage for you three," he hollered, pointing to the three females on board. Just then, the ship pitched alarmingly, and her chest constricted in fear. Spurred into action, she dashed to do as she was told.

The life jackets were stored in a compartment at the front of the deck, and it had started down-pouring by the time she reached them, making visibility difficult. Struggling against the strength of the wind and rain, Evelyn hauled the lifejackets out.

Margherita was nearby, and in the craziness of the storm, she'd shifted to her half form. Her yellow eyes practically glowed through the darkness, and it struck Evelyn why it was so important that Rouge and Margherita get life jackets. They were anchors in the water. If they fell over, they couldn't even _try_ to swim to save themselves.

Fearful for them, she forgot about herself, and dashed towards them first. It made sense, in her panicked mind, that they receive their lifejackets first. Running up to Marhgherita, she grabbed the girl by the shirt and shove the lifejacket at her. The snake-girl hissed at being stopped, but when she saw what was being offered to her, she nodded brusquely and dropped the chair she had in her arms. Evelyn helped her with the buckles, speeding up the process, and when she was securely wrapped in the jacket, Evelyn turned on her heel, seeking out Rouge.

Rouge was dragging a larger chaise towards the storage deck, her eyes glowing a soft blue, but she hadn't shifted. It almost looked like she was struggling not too...

Her wings! Evelyn realized that her wings would be a hinderance in this wind, might even blow her far from the ship if she wasn't careful.

Gritting her teeth, soaked to the bone and starting to shiver from the cold, Evelyn hurried over to her. "Rouge!" she cried, gaining the woman's attention. "Here!" she offered the life-vest. Rouge turned, nodded her head, and snatch the vest from Evelyn's arms. Just like she had with Margherita, Evelyn moved in closer and helped her fasten the clips.

"Where is yours?!" Rouge yelled over the screaming wind. "You're supposed to put yours on first, silly girl! Go!" Rouge pointed back to the storage closet, where more of the life vests waited. Evelyn nodded, barely able to catch her words, and started for the closet.

"WAVE!"

The shout came from Lukas, who was up on the mast. His deep voice bellowed the warning, and Evelyn looked up at him just in time to see him latch onto the mast with both his arms and his legs. Frowning, she turned to look towards the side of the ship.

An enormous wave was rising above the ship. For a moment, she was stunned by the size of it. Then she remembered she needed a life vest, and she needed to hold on to something. She scrambled towards the storage closet, but the ship pitched from a preceding wave, and she barely managed to get her fingers to grip the edges of the compartment. The force sent her to her knees, but her mind kept repeating over and over, "life vest, life vest, life vest."

Her fingers scrabbled for the orange vest, and had just closed over one corner when the wave hit the ship.

Water swept across the deck, and hit her with enough force to rip her and the vest free from the compartment. She struggled to maintain her grip on the vest, but the force of the rushing water was too much. Within seconds, the vest was gone. Evelyn let out a cry, pumping her legs to try and stay above the water.

But it was useless.

She was tossed and pitched in a spinning roll through the water, becoming disoriented. She didn't notice that she'd been shoved clear of the ship entirely until she was able to break the surface once more, her starved lungs gasping for air. Her eyes saw the looming dark shape of the ship, and realized it was above her instead of under her.

Panic set in threefold, and she cried out desperately, waving her hands in the air. The act was futile as another large wave swept over her, plunging her down into the cold, black ocean. No matter how strongly she kicked, no matter how much she pulled with her arms, she couldn't overcome the force of the churning water.

Her vision became hazy, and she shut her eyes tight against the stinging sea water. Thoughts became muggy as she struggled against the force of the water. Then there was nothing at all, and her body went limp.

It grew colder.

Raion had taken over the helm, ordering Titus to survey the ship for damage, especially to the steering mechanisms below. The Hebi-Go wouldn't, no, couldn't cooperate against the waves. His shoulders tensed, trying to keep the helm straight, his brain full of weather terminology and navigator-speak as he analyzed the environment.

Cold front... localized low -pressure system... He glanced up at the sky, blinking as the rain pelleted down hard, the clouds... that thunderhead is rotating. Is that a supercell? Fuck... they had to get out of this storm before a mesocyclone appeared and burst the ship to smithereens. This type of weather in the East Blue was crazy, especially for this time of year.

He shook his head and dared to push his hair out of his eyes. The helm spun and the ship tilted dangerously. He snatched it back, bruising his knuckles and cranked hard, keeping them as close to on course as they could get.

He glanced over his shoulder. His visibility was shot from the rain so he relied heavily on his Haki to keep tabs on his crew. Sabo and Lukas were wrapping the sail. They needed to get down from that crossbar soon. Zeke appeared to be wrestling the rigging still as it kept flying out of his big hands from the wind. He saw two bright orange vests breaking through the shroud of rain and then saw Eevee fighting her way back across the deck to the storage compartment near the bow.

What the fuck was that girl doing? Where the hell was her life vest?

"EEVEE!" he hollered, trying to get her attention.

Titus appeared, "No damage, senchou," he shouted his report.

Raion nodded, "Good! Here! Take over! Keep her steady!" he handed the helm to Titus and leaned over the railing that overlooked the two bottom decks, "EEVEE! LIFE VEST!" he shouted, but his order was interrupted as Lukas shouted a warning from his post on the cross bar.

Raion turned. A huge wave was barreling towards the ship, easily twenty feet high and climbing. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.

"Titus!" he warned, but the fishman was on it, tightening his grip and adjusting the Hebi-Go to take the brunt.

A preceding wave rocked the ship and the captain pitched sideways. He grabbed the railing, his boots sliding on the slick wood and managed to pull himself upright just as that massive wave crashed over lower deck, tilting the Hebi-Go dangerously to the left.

Everything broke down into slow motion. His eyes bounced around, taking in everyone. Zeke had both the devil fruit users by the backs of their life vests. Sabo and Lukas were secured indefinitely as they clung low to the crossbar. Titus was behind him. Someone wasn't accounted for...

Because she was tumbling like ragweed across the lower deck, swept up by the wave. Everything inside him tightened, his breath ceasing.

"EVELYN!" he shouted. Her life vest that she'd managed to wrap her hands around ripped away and like hungry hands, the waves grabbed her and pulled her right over the side of the ship.

"GOD DAMN IT! TITUS!" Raion hollered, whipping around. He grabbed the helm and the fishman burst into action, diving over the edge of the ship, "ZEKE!" Raion didn't even need to say more. The other twin lassoed Margherita and Rouge with rope to the mast and bounded up the stairs, his long legs eating them four at a time to take the helm from the captain.

Raion cursed and launched himself over the railings, hitting the lower deck and slipping. He shoved his hair back out of his face, the wind tearing at his clothes, "SABO! LUKAS! GET DOWN NOW!" Damn it, only one sail was up... the back mast sail and rigging were whipping around above the galley.

The boys came down as Raion snatched some of the heavy rope coiled on the mast.

"Lukas! Take the girls inside!" he snapped, "Sabo, help me."

"Raion, the sail...!" Sabo protested, gesturing towards the back mast as Lukas untied the girls and bodily hauled them into the galley.

"Now!" he demanded. There wasn't any time to explain. They'd just have to sew the sail up afterwards.

They stumbled and slid to the railing. Raion's eyes rapidly scanned the water until he saw Titus's head appear, his dark hair and gray-blue skin nearly invisible in the raging waves. Raion tossed the rope to him, feeling Sabo's shock and panic. Ya. Raion was trying not to panic. He hadn't had someone go overboard in years.

Together, the two of them hauled Titus towards the ship until the fishman could grab the wooden rails and climb, his charge draped over his shoulder.

"Go secure the rigging on the back mast," Raion ordered to Sabo, "Get Lukas and see if you can drop that sail," The blonde man nodded and raced up the back stairs to the deck above the galley.

Titus dropped onto the deck and carefully placed a sputtering and coughing Eevee down. Raion dropped to his knees and gave her a sharp thwap on the back to force the rest of the water out of her lungs, then grabbed her face.

"Are you alright?" was the first question out of his mouth. She was shivering like mad. He switched his attention to the Fishman, "Do we have enough Cola for a Coup de Burst?" like the Sunny, the Hebi had a blast cannon in the back for emergency getaways.

Titus looked like he was doing math in his head before he shrugged, "Maybe. We'll be dry though."

"Go charge it."

He nodded and disappeared.

Raion scooped up his shivering doctor and fought his way forward to the girls dorm, the wind tearing at his clothes as it literally rained sideways. He ripped open the cabin door, battling with it momentarily as the wind attempted to blow it off its hinges. He managed to get them inside and slammed the door shut.

"Sit here," he told her, kneeling down and carefully placing her on the floor next to her bed. He picked his way across the room, tripping over Margherita's shit and kicking it aside until he could retrieve some towels from the bathroom. He came back out and wrapped Eevee's trembling body in them, "Listen," he grabbed her face. Her lips were blue, "Get out of these clothes and get in the bed. I'll be right back."

He gave her one final glance over, as if assuring himself that she'd be alright for a couple of minutes before he darted out of the room.

There was a heavy thump above the galley. Lukas and Sabo had dropped the sail. Raion battled his way over there. He could feel the vibration under his feet of Titus charging the blaster.

"The rigging's damaged!" Sabo hollered, seeing Raion, "And the sail's all torn up!"

Fuck. This was terrible planning on his part, "Never mind it," he waved his hand, "We'll sew it up tomorrow! Titus is gonna fire the Coup de Burst in a few minutes!"

They nodded and the three of them hopped the railing. Sabo and Lukas went into the galley and Raion headed for the helm.

"Zeke!" he hollered, gripping the railing. On the helm, a red light was glowing next to a pull lever.

The fishman nodded and as soon as the light turned green, he yanked that lever as hard as he could.

There was a loud rumbling, audible even over the violent tempest around them, a glowing light from the rear of the ship and then with a giant lurch, the Hebi-Go blasted forward, skimming over the water like a waver. They moved at speeds unparalleled by even the best engines or the best tailwinds. Raion fell into the railing, feeling his stomach get left behind.

For several minutes, Evelyn couldn't move. The cold had affected not only her body, but her mind. And she was in shock. Being a doctor, it was pretty easy to recognize the symptoms, which were made only more severe by the cold, slowing her reaction and thinking times. All she could do was shiver and stare at the wall across from her, her numb fingers clutching the towels wrapped around her.

She'd almost died. Sinking into the ocean, not sure which way was up, knowing she didn't have the strength to get to the surface even if she did know which way to go..She'd accepted that she was going to die. Her heart constricted and her stomach tightened at the memory, and each time the ship lurched or pitched, she winced a little. What if the whole ship turned over?

The thought caused such a sense of panic in her that her lungs seized for a moment. Her shivering got worse, affected by her mentality more than actually being colder.

Then, right at that moment, there was a monumentous lurch, and Evelyn crashed to the side, skidding across the floor until she hit the wall that her bed was against. For several seconds following the lurch, the ship moved eerily like it was flying, and she realized with a snap that they had used the Coup de Burst. She'd experienced it only once before, but it would explain the sudden tumble she'd just taken.

Her panic subsided significantly, and she was prepared for the second lurch as the ship crashed back into the waves. After several seconds of stillness, Evelyn knew they'd outrun the storm. She let out a slow, stuttering breath, one intermittent with chattering teeth.

She was still in her wet clothes, and they were sucking any heat from her body. Her brain was working a little better now, and she focused on the need to get out of the sopping fabric.

It proved to be more difficult than she'd hoped. Her arms and legs were exhausted from the massive exertion of trying to swim through the strong currents of the stormy ocean, and her fingers were still so cold that they were having trouble executing simple commands. The simultaneous shivering from the cold and trembling of her exhausted muscles made her motor skills sloppy and weak. She managed to get her shirt off, but failed completely at working the corset she had underneath off.

She gave up on it for the time being, thinking to return to that task when her fingers weren't so numb. She set on her boots next, forcing her trembling fingers to work the zipper down. By then, her teeth chattering had subsided, but she continued to shiver, her lips still tinged blue. Removing the shirt, however, had done a lot in returning some of the warmth to her arms, but the sopping corset was doing the opposite to her torso. With a small grunt, she managed to pull one of her boots off.

The Hebi crash landed in the water, rocking dangerously back and forth until the ship righted herself. Raion sat up from where he'd been thrust back against the railing and pushed his soaking wet hair back off his forehead. It seemed like they'd outran the storm for the most part. It was still pouring, but the wind had died down significantly and the sky was much lighter.

He stood and pulled out his spyglass, adjusting his vision. Holy fuck. They'd dodged a bullet. A mesocyclone was forming under the supercell he'd seen earlier. If they had tried to fight their way out of that, even the strength of the Adam Wood would have been strained.

Satisfied that the worst was behind them, Raion told Zeke to go inside and get dry and help the crew. The fishman nodded and disappeared down the stairs and Raion stayed to adjust their heading, checking his compass and the weather patterns north east of them. Once they beat the storm, hopefully it would be clear enough out to mend the sail. That pushed them back some. They wouldn't arrive tomorrow evening like he'd hoped. It was gonna be at least another day, if not two.

Down in the galley, everyone was soaking wet. Raion entered to see his nakama righting the chairs that fell over and hanging wet clothes and towels out them to dry out. Margherita and Rouge were hunkered down in chairs with towels over them and steaming cups of something in their hands and all the boys had taken off their boots and shirts, wringing them out in the sinks and shaking them out to dry.

"Everyone alright?" Raion asked, snagging an extra towel and making a vain attempt to dry his hair out.

There was an affirmative groan around the galley and Sabo asked, "Is Eevee alright?"

Rouge snorted, "Of course she's not! Poor girl just fell in the ocean during a violent storm. She's probably in right shape."

"She'll be alright," Raion assured, "We've all fallen overboard once or twice," he glared pointedly at Sabo, "Or more."

The blonde man held up his hands innocently, "I haven't fallen overboard in years," he chuckled.

Zeke handed him two warm pint sized mugs of... was that tea? "Alright," Raion said, nodding his head in finality, "We've cleared the storm for the most part. Just... dry out for now. And get some sleep. We have to fix the rigging and the sail and check the ship for damages, but we can wait until morning."

Everyone agreed, Sabo gave an "aye aye" and Raion left the galley, moving swiftly to the other side of the ship and opening the door to the girls dorm.

Eevee... was exactly where he'd left her. Except she had her shirt off and... one boot. She was struggling with the next one, but it didn't look like her fingers were cooperating and she was making little noises of whining frustration. He felt like someone was squeezing the inside of his chest again.

"You're a hot mess," he said with a half smile. He kicked off his boots, placed the two mugs on her bedside table and dropped to his knees in front of her. His fingers were much more apt for the job of unzipping the side of the boot and tugging it off her foot. Then, he scooted closer to her and pulled her into him so that she was leaning against his shoulder and he could unlace the corset down the back. He'd always wanted to unlace one of these bad boys, but this was a far cry from the situation he'd imagined he'd actually get the pleasure of doing it.

The wet laces were tight and he struggled to get the last of them undone while she trembled against him. After what felt like a frustratingly long time, he managed to pull the soaked corset from her body and he draped her in a towel to cover her. The leather pants were next and he literally had to peel them off her. It was extremely difficult and he tugged her over on accident.

"Sorry," he said, "Wear cotton next time. This is ridiculous."

The undies were thankfully last - she was wearing them to match her corset which he definitely remembered making a comment about yesterday. He found this suspicious and a touch thrilling - and when she was naked and under the towels, he dug through her dresser drawers for a nightgown thing and tugged it over her head. Last, he fluffed her hair and braided it swiftly over one shoulder, his fingers sure and confident. Her skin was still translucent and her fingers freezing as he grabbed her hands to check. Her eyes looked almost too big for her delicate face.

"Let's get you in the bed," he instructed, lifting her up and plopping her down on the mattress. He pulled the covers back and made a motion for her to crawl under them and then he covered her with them. She was shivering and trembling like mad still; even under the covers he could tell.

He paused as a thought cross his mind. At first, he dismissed it right away, but as he really thought about it, it seemed like a good idea. He was fine. He was a little cold from the rain, but he wasn't shivering and his body emanated heat like a furnace on a good day. He could get in the bed with her and help her warm up. Just for a few minutes wouldn't hurt, right?

Raion gathered up her clothes from the floor and strode into the bathroom to hang everything up to dry. Then, he stripped down to his tight black boxers and hung his clothes up too. Out in the room, he dug around in Margherita's stuff until he procured one of his old tee shirts that she slept in. Or maybe it was one of Sabo's? He didn't remember and he held it our to judge the size before shrugging into it. It was tight around his chest and shoulders, but giving it a few good tugs helped loosen the cotton just a little.

She hadn't moved an inch and he pulled the covers back and crawled under them with her.

"Come 'ere," he flexed his hands in gesture for her to scoot close enough so that he could wrap his arms around her to try and stifle the quaking, "Just relax, girl, you're fine," he rubbed his hands up and down her back.

Evelyn was grateful to Raion as he helped her finish undressing. With the rest of her clothes off, she finally started to feel a little warmer, though her shivers persisted. The dry towels felt like heaven, and her fingers cooperated enough now that she could pull it tight around her.

Evelyn lifted her arms for him as he helped her get into one of her nightgowns, then looked up at him as he braided her hair, an odd feeling tightening in her chest. She watched his face, her eyes tracing the lines of his jaw, his lips. The feeling grew stronger, and if she hadn't been so cold, she might have blushed a little. It was more than gratitude, something softer. Her eyes drifted closed in contentment as his fingers swiftly but gently moved thought it hair, and it did more than even the towels to help calm her trembling body. The feeling felt very warm, and very fragile, so Evelyn decided not to investigate it further. Her brain was having trouble functioning as it was.

Soon, he had her in her bed, under the covers, and she curled up for warmth, nuzzling her face against the pillow, which felt amazingly warm and soft. Already, she felt exhaustion tugging at her consciousness. She was still shivering, still very much cold, but she was in a far better place than she'd been moments before, with her wet clothes clinging to her blue-tinged skin. She wondered, briefly, how long it would take for the blankets to get her warm enough to stop shivering.

Her eyes flickered up to Raion, and she opened her mouth to thank him for his help, but he left before she could, her wet clothes bundled in his arms. Disappointed that she couldn't express her gratitude, Evelyn let out a little sigh, closing her eyes and willing warmth into her body.

Moments later, the bed suddenly dipped, and Evelyn's eyes flew open in surprise to see that Raion was getting under the covers with her. She looked up into his face, and felt that warm feeling in her chest again to see his face and a small, reassuring smile as he settled down next to her. She didn't hesitate when he motioned her over, scooting closer into the circle of his arms.

His scent enveloped her first, then the heat that radiated off of him. Her sigh, this time, was one of happiness, and she buried her face against his chest, letting the warmth there heat her cold nose and lips. "Thank you..." she mumbled against him, curling her fingers into the dry shirt he was wearing.

With his heat, it didn't take long for her shivers to subside. Feeling warm, safe, and content in Raion's arms, Evelyn drifted off to sleep quickly.

An hour later, Margherita and Rouge were still in the galley, warm mugs in their hands. By then, they had changed into dry shirts and shorts, both of which belonged to Lukas.

"Man, why couldn't he have taken her to _his_ room. Then I could be sleeping all cozy in my bed," Margherita grumbled, scowling down at her tea. "Not that he would actually do that...he never lets girls in his room. After this long, he's definitely 'warming her up,' if you know what I mean...In _my_ room." Margherita made a gagging face.

Rouge laughed, shaking her head as she waggled a brow at Margherita, "Oh come on, you're probably Eevee's biggest supporter when it comes to getting her together with Raion. And after the shock Eevee just went through, a little 'warming up'" Rouge waggled her brows suggestively, grinning widely, "is probably the best thing for her. You can suffer one night for that. You can come bunk with me; I'm sure Lukas won't mind, right babe?"

Across the room, Lukas snorted, shaking his head. He didn't look up from the newspaper that sat in front of him. "Oh, the more the merrier..." he mumbled.

Margherita smirked, then nodded her head. "Alright, alright...He'll probably be gone by morning anyways. Senchou never sleeps with girls, he just screws them."

Rouge reached out and smacked Margherita up the side of the head, "hey, watch your mouth where my cousin is concerned! Besides...Eevee is different. I have a good feeling that his man-whoring days are over," Rouge said with a confident grin, nodding her head.

Margherita cast her a suspicious look, "You sure about that...? I mean, he has been acting very weird with her, but you know how much Senchou loves to man-whore..." Setting her mug down, Margherita crudely thrust her index finger through the whole made by the thumb and forefinger of her other hand, waggling her brow like Rouge had down.

Rouge scowled at that, then shrugged, lifting the mug to her lips, "Fucking is fun and all, but there's something to be said for finding the person you like to fuck the most." Her eyes slid towards Lukas, and her grin turned wicked.

Margherita scowled and covered her face with her hands, "Ew, don't ever make that face in front of me again."

Rouge laughed hard, and Lukas glanced at her with a little grin on his lips.

Margherita woke somewhat early in the morning, all considering. Though she didn't mind bunking with Rouge and Lukas, she'd much rather have her own bed. Not long after she woke, she was heading in the direction of her room, thinking of dozing a little more in said bed, nested among the many blankets and pillows she piled onto it.

There was a fog hanging over the water and the ship as she traversed the deck, and Margherita let out a big yawn. She spotted Zeke heading into the galley, to begin preparing breakfast, and waved a greeting to him as she pushed open the door to the cabins.

A second yawn, so big her eyes closed, obscured her vision as she entered the girl's dorm, trying to be quiet for Eevee's sake. Once the yawn had subsided, Margherita got a look of the state of the room, and stopped dead in her tracks. Raion was in the bed with Eevee, his arms wrapped around her. He was wearing one of her shirts! Well, it had been Sabo's...but still!

It was one of those occasions where he fell asleep without actually meaning to go to sleep. His intention of getting into the bed with her had been completely innocuous, really. But his adrenaline had been running so high and hard and he hadn't had much sleep that when his body finally stopped, it was like everything in him stopped and took the rest that it could find.

So when the door opened, Raion started, waking up and blinking as he processed his surroundings. Margherita stood in the doorway, watching him with her yellow eyes. And he realized with a tinge of pink over his ears that he'd just been caught sleeping in bed with Eevee. Something inside him tensed. He wasn't sure where this attraction with Eevee was going and where it was all gonna end up when everything was said and done, so he tried to keep their… he hedged to call it a "relationship" because it wasn't really that, but it was difficult to call it just a "fuck" either… well, whatever they were, he tried to keep it under wraps around his nakama. Maybe it was just survival, like a safety net instinct that kept him from spreading drama like a disease through his crew in case this whole "Eevee plus relationship/fuck/fling/whatever" thing didn't quite pan out or something. He didn't want the crew really involved. Cleaner, he supposed, maybe.

So when Margherita blinked at him, he tensed and shifted, feeling like he'd just got his hand caught in the cookie jar and he needed to get the hell out.

She held up her hands and shook them, a grin spreading over her little pixie face, "No, stop, stay," she whispered, "You'll wake her up. I'm just gonna grab some clothes…" and she tiptoed across the room, picked up some shorts and a tank top and some underwear or something. And as suddenly as she appeared, she whispered out the door, leaving Raion staring at the closed wood.

… what?

 _She must already know what_ _'_ _s going down_ , he thought, settling slowly back into the bed. Maybe Eevee shares with her? Girl talk or whatever females called it when they got all twittered about boys? That seemed… oddly out of character for the little snake girl, but maybe not so much for the lovely doctor.

And if she knew what was going on… and Sabo knew what was going on… Rouge obviously knew because her and Margherita were thick as thieves when they got together. Lukas must know then… and Titus and Zeke weren't stupid so if everyone _else_ knew, then they would know and all Raion was left thinking was: what did they think was happening?

For that matter, what did _he_ think was happening?

 _It_ _'_ _s fine,_ he told himself, snuggling back down in the bed and draping his arm over Eevee's hip. It's fine because… because whether he'd made it explicit or not to her, Eevee knew what she was getting into by messing around with him. He… didn't commit. Part of him like to fool around and have a good time with lots of women and she had to know that like, just because they were fucking – or going to, he was convinced – didn't mean that he was 'exclusive'. Or would ever be, though that much only Sabo knew the finer details of. Raion had a bit of an idealistic image of the perfect relationship that he wanted to be in and he was convinced that finding it was like finding one fish in the whole ocean; slim to none. So, he just had fun instead.

And Eevee knew that. She had to. And he knew that. So there was no harm in having some fun.

It was just… a little different because they were nakama too. So there were some allowances, like… sleeping in the same bed together.

He tugged her in a little closer, feeling the tight Mystery Feeling in his chest at the idea of snuggling a body.

"Are you awake?" he grumbled, his voice rough from sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

Eevee stirred, instinctively moving towards his warmth and cuddling closer to him. Then it seemed like the layers of sleep were slowly lifting, and she realized that there was another person in the bed with her.

She pulled her eyes open, and peeked up at him, blinking blearily in the small amount of light that was filtering through the little windows. He'd slept the whole night with her? A small smile curved her lips upward at the thought. She'd slept very well, like the dead, in fact. Though that could have something to do with almost drowning in freezing cold water...

"I am now," she answered him in a murmur, closing her eyes again and settling back down. In her sleepiness, she was feeling more bold than maybe she normally would, and nuzzled her nose against his chest, enjoying the scent of him. "Thank you...for helping me to stay warm. And from keeping me from drowning. I'm sorry I screwed up...Next time, I'll put my own life vest on first. I'll be more prepared for storms now...It was very frightening."

Her fingers snuck around his waist, and she curled her fingers into the fabric at his back. He was so warm! He was like a furnace, one that smelled amazing and wrapped around her like a blanket. She caught herself thinking that she could wake up like this everyday...

Her face in his chest and her hands gripping the back of the tee shirt stirred a slow burn in his stomach, his nerve endings standing to attention being so close to her and in such a close space. But his brain couldn't keep up with all her mumblings and grumblings and apologies. He laid his whole hand over her face, his palm covering her mouth.

"Shush," he mumbled, "Everyone falls in the ocean once or twice. It's in How to Be a Pirate 101," he squished her to him like she was a life-sized pillow, their legs entwined like vines so he had one knee pushed up tight between her thighs and the other draped over her legs. He snuggled his face into her hair, "So shhh. Go back to sleep."

He really did have every intention of catching some more Zzz's, his mind protesting coming awake fully and his body quite, QUITE comfortable all cozied up to her. But, she shifted under him a little in reaction to his iron-arm grip around her and what he was sure was purely by accident, the night shift she was wearing climbed up and his very naked leg was now tight and cozy against some very, very naked flesh under her gown. His whole body seemed to stop moving and breathing.

Raion rolled her right over so she was completely under him and he pressed his face against her neck, his mouth moving over her skin, "Alright, I guess I'm awake now," he grumbled. He kept his knee pressed against her very warm and naked sex and he palmed her breast through her silly little night gown.

He slid his thigh between hers, and she was instantly more awake and aware of the situation. He was touching some sensitive skin there, and her body came alive. Eevee blushed, and debated whether or not he was aware of what he was doing to her, and if she should do anything about it. All thoughts of being cozy and content had been chased away by the memories of what his fingers could do to her, of the heat that kindled between them.

She shifted, half because of his tight grip, and half because he'd made her suddenly very antsy. She was aroused, she realized. She also figured out, right then, that being aroused and doing nothing about it was a thought that sat ill with her body. No wonder men who were aroused became such beasts...She might do anything to get to that place he'd brought her to once before and quell the fire that was building in her blood.

Eevee opened her mouth to say something, anything, to hint at what he was doing to her, but suddenly he rolled them over until his larger body blanketed hers, his knee grinding against her core between her legs. She gasped, both from surprise at his sudden movement and because the sudden friction sent fire swirling up into her belly. "Raion..." she whispered, somewhat raggedly.

She was starting to get used to this. To the way the heat built between them, to the way they were to act when it did. It was no longer so startling, to feel herself come alive under his touch. She arched her back against his hand on her breast, seeking more. Her hips shifted eagerly against his leg, creating more friction that drew a groan from her.

Her hands moved up his arms, relishing in the feel of his skin under her fingertips. When she encountered his shirt, she made a sound of discontent, and tugged at the material as if to slide it up and over his head. At the same time, she turned her face towards his, where he was nuzzling her neck, and sought out his lips. Her breathing picked up a pace, her heart beating a stuttering staccato in her chest.

She yanked at his shirt and he shrugged out of it, dropping it to the floor beside the bed. Then he kissed her mouth, turning her face towards his and threading his hand through her hair behind her ear. Everything inside him was awake and alert, his blood rushing and heating, but at the same time, he felt content and relaxed, like this was the easiest thing in the world. Like, there was nothing else he'd rather be doing this morning than getting hot, heavy and naked and building them up to a slow and torturous burn.

He didn't stop kissing her, his tongue sweeping through her mouth even as he pushed the material of her night gown up, up, up. He only peeled his mouth away from hers to pull it off over her head, chuckling a little as her arms got tangled in the material. He managed to tug her out of it and dropped it to the floor as well. Now, she was gloriously naked and the skin to skin was electrifying.

"Hands up here," he told her, sliding his hands up her arms to guide her hands to his head, "Pull my hair. I like that."

He dropped his mouth to her breast, swirling his tongue over her nipple. But he didn't linger so long, because he had something different in mind. He wanted to hear her come again; every day that went by, the memory from before seemed to fade further and further into dreamscape. He needed it here and now and loud enough to ricochet around his head for a while. Just the thought made his lung cease and his breathing short and his blood pulse right down to his cock. He planned to get something out of this today too; if he didn't, he was certain he would implode from sheer sexual madness.

Raion dragged his mouth over her hip, his teeth nibbling at her hip bone, not enough to really hurt, but hard enough to make a point. He slid his hand up her thigh until he could caress his fingers over her sex. Oh shit. She was so wet. It was so hot.

Then, he replaced his hand with his mouth over her core. He was gonna tongue-fuck her into oblivion.

Everything he did to her only made her hotter. When he demanded she pull his hair, she was prepared this time, threading her fingers through his messy black locks and tightening her grip when his lips and tongue descended on her nipple. Her head fell back and her breathing came out in short pants. She liked having his mouth on her breast, suckling and licking the sensitive bud. Though it felt wrong to hurt him in any way, even if he said he liked it, she let the tension built from passion out through her fingertips as she tugged at his hair, holding him to her breast.

All too soon, he was pulling away, and she was forced to release his hair as he moved down her body. Each kiss and lick sent more more heat spiraling through her veins, and her hips shifted insistently beneath him, eager for his touch. She didn't have to wait long; she gasped with delight as his fingers trailed up her thigh, then stroked her wet heat.

"Oh Raion..." she moaned, her eyes falling shut from the ripples of pleasure his touch sent straight into her abdomen. She was prepared for more of his touching and stroking; she wasn't prepared for what he did next.

His lips replaced his fingers, and his mouth closed over her core.

Her eyes shot back open and she let out a cry, one that was mixed with alarm and sudden, intense pleasure. "Wh-what are you doing?" she asked in a raged voice, squirming uncomfortably under him. Her face flushed with embarrassment. This couldn't be proper...well, nothing about what they were doing was proper, in all honesty, but _this..._

Yet the sensation...If his fingers had felt good, it was nothing compared to what his lips and tongue felt like. Her breathing came even faster, and her fingers curled into the sheets on either side of her. "Oh..." she murmured, sounding surprised...and happy about it. "Is this...right...?" she asked, and though there was a little doubt in her voice, it also sounded like she was hoping his answer was a yes.

Her reaction made him chuckle and he stopped for a moment, propping his chin on her pubic bone and pegging her with a wicked grin, his gray eyes dancing. She sounded so... cautiously hopeful. Like a lady dipping her toes into the dark side, desperately wanting to swim and hoping nothing was gonna bite her.

"Trust me," he said, "I know what I'm doing here," he reached up and pushed his fingertips against her forehead to encourage her to lie back down. He then let that hand slide down her body, over her breasts, her ribs, the dip in her stomach, then over her sex until he slipped a single finger inside her, "And don't worry. It's very, very right."

He resumed his task, his mouth over her core, his tongue working her out. He was drowning in her; his sixth sense bleeding with her arousal until it was all he felt, heard, tasted, smelled and saw. It burned through him like lava, slow and agonizing, tracking scorch marks through his blood stream and down to his cock. He wanted to fuck her, his sexual frustration impatient and tired to dancing around it. At the same time, he liked that she forced him to string it out. He kept coming back for more from her.

Raion pushed her a little harder, easing another finger inside her, urging her to come. God, she was so fucking tight it made his head spin.

Lately in her life, Eevee had been encountered with many new and startling experiences, and as a lady, she'd been cautious and nervous about experiencing them all. But she was a pirate now, and sooner or later, she was going to have to adapt to living a life more freely. She was going to have to let go of her reservations and jump without looking.

So when he insisted, rather than continue to worry about whether or not what he was doing was proper or right...she simply stopped thinking about it, and let herself become absorbed in sensations. They were, after all, quite fantastic.

To put it mildly.

He slid another finger in her, and the tightness was uncomfortable for merely a second or two before the stroking of his tongue on her sex had her wanting even more. Her hips gyrated and shifted eagerly under his administrations, her hands fisting in the sheets and clinging on for dear life.

Her last time with him, like this, she remembered in a very hazy way, likely because of all the alcohol she'd consumed. She wasn't ready, with that shade of a memory, for the intensity of the pleasure that was building inside of her. Each stroke of his tongue, each gentle thrust of his finger, brought her more and more pleasure. It was like waves crashing on a beach with a tide that was quickly rushing in.

"Raion...I think...oh...oh, please don't...stop..." she begged, her voice pitching at the end as the pleasure rose to an alarming degree. It happened so quickly. The pleasure became a sharp ecstasy that crashed through her, and she cried out. Her hips jerked, her back arched, and her head thrashed against the pillow. Her knuckled turned white with how tightly she was gripping the sheet.

It was her voice that really set him off. The way his name tumbled from her lips, begging him, pitching high at the end as her orgasm exploded swiftly out of her. The way her breath caught around her moan, how her voice seemed to filter straight into his brain and the sound of her coming banged around in there for a while. It was that, more than anything else, that had him nearly coming with her, grinding his hips into the mattress like it could give him any fucking relief.

Raion didn't stop until he'd pulled every single whimper out of her, until she was practically shaking underneath him. Even then, he brushed his lips against the inside of her thigh but didn't remove his hand right away, her body holding him like a tight fist. He crawled over her, his very skin alive and his breath short and rapid. He kissed her mouth, hard and thorough, his tongue stroking against hers. Finally, he was able to ease his hand away from her sex and drop his weight a little to his elbows. He groaned against her mouth as their bodies touched from hips to shoulder, her breasts against his chest, his hips cradled in hers and only the scrap of clothing he called his boxers preventing him from fucking her. As it was, he ground into her a little, enough to catch his breath in his throat.

He was wound tighter than a top for her right now. Wired for days, hearing vague memories of her moaning as he made her come, like a song he couldn't remember the words to, but knowing if he heard it again, it was gonna bounce around his brain and he wouldn't be able to ditch it. Now he'd heard it and it was amping him up to the point where he couldn't settle down.

He rolled them over so that she was over him, his mouth against hers, not daring to stop, one hand threaded through her hair and the other resting on her ass, keeping her close. Oh, it hurt so good, the boxers hardly offering any modicum of a barrier between his cock and her heat.

"I need you to do something for me," he growled out, his voice rough and gravelly. He forced her to sit up a little and he bit his lip to keep himself from pulling one of her breasts down to his mouth.

"Scooch down," he pushed at her hips to move her down to straddle over his legs instead. His breath came out in a hiss and a curse between his teeth as the friction of moving her rubbed against him, "Gimme your hands," he took them and placed her left against the mattress and her right against his stomach. He took more control than he was used to; her innocence making it difficult for him to find the words needed for proper instructions.

"I need you..." he guided her hand down his stomach, "... to touch me..." his breath came quick in anticipation, "... right here..." he slid her hand under the hem of the boxers and when even just her fingertips touched his aching shaft, his head fell back against the pillows.

"Fuck, Eevee..." he groaned.

With her head still spinning a little from her heady orgasm, Eevee blinked down at him as he guided her hand down his stomach. It was his expression that snapped her out of her own post-orgasm haze and back into reality. He looked like he was being _tortured_...And that he really liked it.

Her gazed flickered down to where he was guiding her hand, and a pink tinge added color to her already flushed cheeks. She looked back up to him, saw the way his breathing came faster, the way his body tensed under hers, and her embarrassment fled. He'd already done so much for her, given her such amazing pleasure...She couldn't get squeamish and lady-like now.

Eevee bit her bottom lip, tearing her gaze away from the rapture she saw on his face, and focused on her hand. The moment she started moving it on her own, he released her. Slowly, a little unsure of how or what she was supposed to do, she wrapped her fingers around the hard length jutting up from between his legs.

It jerked in response to her touch, and she gasped a little, surprised. It was so incredibly soft, yet hard as steel all the same. Her caution gave way to curiosity, and her eyes grew bright with interest as she watched how every motion she made while touching him caused an immediate and direct response in him. It made her feel...powerful.

She scooted down a little more, and released his shaft to grasp his shorts instead. She wanted to _see._ Careful to pull the material over his pulsing shaft, Eevee pulled his shorts down until she could see all of him. She had to pause, then, because he was so damned big that she couldn't imagine any female ever being able to have intercourse with a man like this. When her eyes flickered up to him, there was awe shining in them, as well as a little trepidation. But then, size didn't matter when it was her hands stroking him.

She returned her hand to him, wrapping her fingers around the middle of the shaft. Her eyes dipped to the base of his penis, and she cocked her head to the side at the sight of his balls. With her free hand, she reached down and gently cupped them. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to be doing, so she slid the hand she had wrapped around him to the base of his shaft, then slid it back up. To her surprise, a bead of moisture collected at the tip. Was that good?

Her eyes flickered back up to his face, and Eevee repeated the motion, dragging her hand down and up the length of him. "Like this...?" she asked, and her voice was breathless with rapt attention.

Raion had handled a couple virgins before. As a whole, they tended to be timid, but boy, did they try hard. They were eager to please. Picking up virgins at the bar was different though. Generally, if you are at a bar, looking to have your cherry popped by an infamous pirate, you aren't "innocent" by definition. They'd heard stories, gossiped with friends or perhaps even had a little school-aged romance.

Eevee screamed innocence.

And she was going to kill him with it.

He let her do her own thing at her own speed and that was all good. It was the shift in her attitude, clearly displayed in those wide eyes of hers, that was going to be the end of him. He fisted his hands hard into the bed sheets, needing something to grip aggressively to check his patience. Her fingertips brushing over him, biting her lips, her violet eyes alight with curiosity, it all made him feeling like his insides were bleeding fire. His muscles tensed and relaxed so often that they were nearly trembling, tired already.

Then... she did this thing where she bit her lip, flickered her eyes up to his and scooted her ass further down his body. He almost expired, her expression filled with naughty curiosity. She hooked the boxers and tugged them down and he cursed, a string of random expletives whispered harsh under his breath.

And then she paused and her whole face widened, her mouth making a little 'o' as she laid her eyes on his cock and he half-groaned, half-laughed and covered his eyes with a trembling hand. He couldn't watch her and all that naive curiosity.

"Ah, god, you're killing me..." he groaned as she fisted him with all this gentle exploration. He dared to slit his fingers to glance at her, only to catch her eyes filled with rapture, glancing at him and questioning her technique. He never imagined something as simple as a hand-job would wreck such havoc over his whole body. It had to be a testament to how strung out he felt.

"Yes, like that," he assured her breathlessly, "Fuck, yes, just like that..." he reached down and covered her hand with his, forcing her to grip him harder, showing her exactly how he liked it. The muscles in his neck and shoulders twitched and tensed and he felt the blinding build up coming fast and swift. He was barely able to grind out her name, maybe something along the lines of a warning that he was gonna come before he did, colors bursting, his body tense and tight.

Then it was over and his breath came in rapid pants and he wasn't done. He wanted more.

He had to shut that down. What he wanted was something he couldn't have right now.

Raion grabbed his boxers, wiped himself off with them, then grabbed her face to kiss her swiftly. Then he flipped out of the bed, putting a little bit of space between them. If he stayed in that bed with her, he was gonna fuck her senseless and hurt her. His body was begging him for it, but his brain was like, no way, man.

"We're done now," he told her, a poor explanation. He gave her a somewhat tortured once-over then turned and strode into the bathroom. He jerked his pants off the railing and shook them out. They were dry, but stiff. He stuffed his legs into them, his movements sharp and indicative of his mood. He felt all crazy shaken on the inside and it was fucking with his composure. What the fuck, seriously? He never acted like this after nookie.

Then again, he never tried to leave while not wanting to at the same time.

He came back out. He'd probably only been gone for maybe thirty seconds. She hadn't moved much, still naked in the bed, her pretty face flushed, lips pouted from kissing, eyes wide. He paused, frowning slightly.

"Oh, who the fuck am I kidding?" he grumbled, going back towards the bed. He grabbed her face and kissed her again, like he couldn't get enough of her, "We do really need to be done now though," he told her, pulling back, "Or else I'll do wicked things to you. So get your sweet ass dressed."

Watching him fall apart under her fingertips was extremely heady, and her body came to life again at the sight of it. Her arousal was triggered by his pleasure, and the fact that she was giving it to him. She couldn't take her eyes off of him at that moment, not for anything, as he orgasmed under her touch. His whole body went rigid, his shaft pulsed and jerked, and white fluid came shooting out of the tip of it. She was rather surprised by that last part, but she knew, as a doctor, that it was supposed to happen. She just hadn't been expecting it, hadn't been thinking of her studies in male anatomy when her thoughts had been consumed by the sight of him.

He looked magnificent like that, his muscles bulging and straining, a fine sheen of sweat covering his skin. His eyes darkened when he was aroused, and it made him look roguish. The sight of him made her want to explore more of his body, with her hands and her mouth.

He was still hard afterwards, and Eevee wondered what that meant. She wondered if that had anything to do with the fact that he jumped out of bed so quickly after he finished, as if he couldn't wait to get away from her. She was a little stung by it as he strode away and into the bathroom. She didn't move from the bed, a little too shocked still from what they had just done together.

When he came back out, Eevee looked up at him, prepared for him to leave, but he came over to the bed instead, and her heart lifted in her chest. A smile spread over her lips, and she relished his kiss. She wanted more, but he pulled back, ordering her to get dressed.

"I'm not sure that's such a bad thing..." she said in answer to his comment about doing wicked things to her, but she slid off the bed nonetheless. She wanted to keep touching him, keep kissing him, but she kept her hands to herself, though her eyes swept over him, enjoying the sight. "I'm going to shower first, if that's okay."

Now that the rush of arousal was dying down, she realized how stiff she was. Her body complained as she moved to grab her towel and some clothes. Her hair was a disaster too, and she could feel the salt in it from her tumble into the ocean. Turning back to him, her towel held to her chest, and smiled a little and nodded towards the door. "I'll come join you and the crew when I'm done. I'll be quick, promise. I'm sure there is a lot to do after the storm...so I'd like to help as much as I can." As she spoke, she headed for the bathroom, eager to get under a hot spray of water and wash the salt off of her body.

" _I'_ _m sure that_ _'_ _s not such a bad thing..._ _"_

That one sentence clung to him like a bad cold as he left her to shower and dress and he went upstairs to his room to do the same. Of course it was a bad thing, she just must not see it yet. Fucking was the end goal, was it not? In his head, it was supposed to be. As he tilted his head under the spray and leaned his hands against the tiled walls, it all seemed skewed. In this case... maybe fucking wasn't the end goal. Really, it couldn't be, because she was nakama and it wasn't like he was gonna kick her off the ship afterwards. He needed her. She was the doctor. The crew needed her.

Perhaps that's what she meant? Telling him in her innocent way that she was still on board for this casual "fuck buddies" relationship. That's what it was, wasn't it? He made a face. He could get some whenever he wanted, she could too and neither of them had to commit because that wasn't his style and then it didn't have to get awkward because they were nakama too. Maybe that's not such a bad thing.

What the hell, right? He'd run with it, see where it went. It couldn't hurt. It was just fucking around.

Back on deck, the sun was playing peek-a-boo with some clouds, but the rain was long gone and it didn't appear like it was gonna come back today. Raion checked and adjusted their heading and calculated the time it would take for them to get to Foosha Village. They should have been getting there sometime tonight, maybe in the morning, but the sail being down shoved them back. If he could sew up the sail fast enough, they were looking at tomorrow late afternoon, evening.

He could live with that.

At breakfast, everyone looked much more chipper than they had the night before. And though while everyone said good morning to him and smiled and whatnot, Rouge's grin was a little more telling and Sabo looked like he was trying hard not to burst into laughter and Margherita's yellow eyes danced with knowing. Well. News travelled fast among such a small group, didn't it?

"So we're running behind schedule," he told them as Zeke served up a delicious breakfast, "Not terribly, but about a day, if we can get the sail back up and the rigging repaired. Titus, any other damage to the ship?"

The fishman shrugged, "A little damage to the rudder and helm gears, but nothing irreparable."

"Alright. Lukas, Rouge, what about your skiff? It's still there, right?" he added, it not occurring to him until just now that it very well could've been swept away.

Lukas waved his hand, "We couldn't sink that skiff if we tried."

"Excuse me, marine," Rouge leveled him a look, "I love my boat and you do too." they narrowed their eyes at each other playfully, staring each other down until Lukas laughed and kissed her nose. Margherita made a little vomiting noise off to the side.

Lukas turned back to Raion, "I'll work on the repairs today. The kid can help me," he nodded to Sabo, who's brows went up a little and he glanced at Raion, who, after all, was his captain.

Raion nodded, "Ya, that's fine. Fix that. Margherita, can you handle the rigging?"

The little snake girl snorted, "I can handle it just fine."

He grinned, "Good. Then that leaves me and Eevee for the sail," they had the steadiest hands in the crew, between her doctoring skills and his cartography.

His cousin snorted, "Of course it does," she muttered, just loud enough for everyone to hear.

And as the table burst out laughing, Raion pinched the bridge of his nose and felt his ears turn a little pink.

After breakfast, everyone went about their chores. On the bottom deck, Raion dragged out the heavy black canvas sail from where it had been shoved the the corner during the storm. He spread it out over the deck. Despite that it was the smaller sail, it still covered the whole deck and then some. Laid out so close to the eye like this, he could see where all the past damage had been sewn up. This little sail got a hell of a beating over the last few years.

He set a big box down between him and Eevee and opened it up. Inside were all their sail-repair needs; sail tape, heavy thread, big bone needles and water-resistant oils to treat the canvas.

He handed her a needle and a large spool of thread, "Let's put those lady noble sewing lessons to good use," he grinned, "Small stitches, make sure the thread pulls tight without bunching the sail. And when you're finished with one tear, rub some of this on it," he pointed to the oil, "You start at that end and I'll start over here." he pointed to the opposite corner across from them.

Enjoying the hot water of her shower to such a degree, Evelyn was late to breakfast. By the time she got there, though, everyone was laughing about something and Raion's ears were pink. No one would answer when she asked what was so funny, but Rouge had grinned widely at her and winked, and Margherita had smothered a chuckle at her question. Unsure of what all of that meant, she'd left the issue alone and finished her breakfast.

She was assigned to the sail for repairs, and she followed Raion out after breakfast. Up close, the smaller of the two sails looked much bigger than it did up on the mast. It covered the whole deck, with extra to spare! Feeling a little taunted by the task at hand, she bit her lip and moved over to one of the many holes littering the canvas.

Raion set a box down between them, and gave her instructions. She took the needle and thread from him, and already felt the memory of her many sewing classes drifting to mind. Sewing had been one of her least favorite activities, something that was the exact opposite of dancing. Rather than moving about and being free, sewing was very stagnant and slow.

Still, she hadn't been terrible at it. She'd just detested it.

With a sigh, Evelyn pulled the canvas up onto her lap. Knowing she was going to be busy with repairs, she'd dressed simply in a pair of black shorts and a fitted, pink t-shirt, another one of her corsets hugging her torso underneath. Her feet were bare, something she'd never done before, but often saw many of the crew doing so she'd decided to go with the flow. Besides, knowing she was repairing the sail, she hadn't wanted to walk across it with boots on.

As she made her first stitch-one she was rather proud of, considering it had been a while-her eyes skimmed the rest of the sail. There were several repaired patches, and she had to wonder how often this sort of thing happened. "Is it you that always repairs the sail?" Evelyn asked curiously, looking up from her sewing and over at Raion.

Seeing him handling the needled with such care did funny things to her belly. He was such a powerful man and seeing his larger hands handling the needle so gently reminded her of how gentle his hands could be on her. Pink tinged her cheeks at the thought, and she shook it away with a little shake of her head, looking back down at her hands. She was picking up the pace, almost done with the first tear.

He watched her for a minute as she got right into her task. He could tell that she detested this. It was all in her aura and even if he didn't have Haki to help him read people, it was written all over her face. A little frown settled between her eyebrows and she made little faces as she threaded the needle and punctured the heavy canvas.

He turned to his task. Sewing the sail was tedious work. He threaded the needle and got started, pulling the thread through the black canvas, under, over, under, over, like he'd stitch a wound. It was the only way he knew how to stitch. Chopper had taught him in order for him and Sabo to get by without a doctor for as long as they had.

Raion glanced up at her when she asked her question. He shrugged, "Usually," he replied, "I'd rather get it professional mended, but that's not always an option, being a pirate and everything," he gave her a look, a brow cocked and a smug grin, "Nothing like advertising to the Marines that the most notorious pirate ship in the world is without a sail."

He bit the thread and tied it off, then rubbed some of the oil between his fingers to coat the seam. Then he threaded the needle again and moved to another tear, "I'll bet you can do all sorts of fancy stitches," he gave her a sly grin, his eyes dancing, teasing her a little. She looked so proper, sitting straight up with the canvas in her lap like this was a lesson. He liked her outfit today, a pink tee-shirt that hugged her body and he could clearly see the outline of her corset underneath. The view was nice and it sent a little thrill through him because he _knew_ that she was wearing it for him.

He shifted so that he was lying on his stomach, hating the feeling of sitting hunched over to stitch.

His comment made her stiffen a little, and she turned narrowed eyes in his direction. He said it as if she _liked_ the fact that she knew many fancy stitches. But his eyes were dancing and she realized he was teasing her. A smile hesitated on the edge of her lips. She should just accept that she was likely always going to be teased for the fact that she was a noble lady; Margherita did it all the time.

Her eyes flickered down to where he was stitching, and her smile grew even bigger to see the way he was punching through the canvas and tugging on the thread. He was sewing the way someone stitched flesh or something far less delicate than clothe. "Well, at least I don't stitch like a mortician," she returned his way, her own eyes twinkling with mischief as she wrinkled her nose at him. Then wondered if he even knew what that word meant.

"You do know what a mortician is...right?" she asked, just as teasingly. Leaning over, she pricked his leg with her needle. Being a big strong pirate like he was, she assumed he could handle it, since she hadn't even poked him hard enough to draw blood.

She was finished with her current stitch, and looked around in confusion for a second. There were no scissors...Then she remembered how he'd bitten the thread off. Evelyn hesitated. She wasn't sure she could be able to do that...Was there a technique? She raised the thread to her lips, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, and bit into the thread.

It most certainly did not break.

She blushed, and tried again, tugging this time, but still with no luck.

He was almost a little shocked when she teased him back. So much so that he was a little slow in realizing that she was teasing him instead of insulting his intelligence. Not that he thought she had a mean enough bone in her body to do such a thing as insult someone, but he hadn't been expecting the teasing either. So when she leaned over and pricked him with the bone needle, he didn't dodge it.

He snapped his thread again with his teeth and tied it off and it was on the tip of his tongue to come back at her about the mortician when she tried to bite the thread with her teeth. Tried... and failed.

Her expression dropped down to complete mulish, like she was so disappointed that the thread didn't break and coupled with her flush that stained her cheeks, she looked like a child who'd realized all the cookies were gone.

He laughed at her, unable to help himself. He rose up onto his hands and knees and crawled over to her, "Don't hurt those wee lady teeth you have," he chuckled. He shooed her hands away, brought the thread up to his mouth and, with his eyes on hers, a quick snap-tug motion had the thread free of the needle. He tied it off for her.

"Of course I know what a mortician is," he told her, a slow grin like a Cheshire Cat spreading across his face, "They're the ones that sew up the _dead bodies_ ," he said the last bit like it was a big, dirty secret and leaned into her so that they're noses were almost touching, "And how do _you_ know I haven't had any practice?"

He tapped under her chin with two fingers, "I also know what you're wearing," he whispered, his other hand skimming along the exposed skin on her lower back and teasing the bottom edge of her corset, "And I know you're doing it on purpose."

Raion backed up away from her, smirking and moved to the other side of the sail to continue stitching the tears. He glanced up at her quickly before rethreading his needle. He _liked_ flirting with her, despite the fact that flirting didn't necessarily mean anything was gonna come of it. Just... flirting for the sake of flirting. That Mystery Feeling of tightness in his chest gripped him slightly and he ignored it as he started mending the sail, apparently like a mortician closes up dead bodies.

When he laughed at her, Eevee couldn't help it; she pouted. But then his proximity ruined her pouting when his face was suddenly very close to hers, and her caught her breath in her throat. His scent washed over her, and she could feel the warmth of his breath across her lips. It was like a jolt to her heart, a shock through her veins. She barely understood the words he said to her.

She opened her mouth to say that he probably had sewn up a dead body or two, but then he distracted her completely when he tapped her under her chin, then physically pointed out the fact that she was wearing a corset underneath her shirt. His fingers, running along the exposed skin of her lower back, sent shivers racing up and down her spine, and another blush darkened the skin of her cheeks.

She'd been caught. She thought she was being subtle...But apparently nothing got past her captain. She supposed, though, that it was far easier to tell in a form-fitted shirt than in one of her tightly laced dresses that had a little ribbing of their own.

Before she could shoot out a reply, any reply, he was already moving away from her to the other side of the sail, putting some distance between them. It felt like she could suddenly breath again, and she looked down at the sail in her lap, at the fixed tear that he had finished off for her.

"How do you know I just don't miss them..." she muttered in answer, hoping it was low enough that he didn't hear. She let out a sigh, and dutifully rubbed oil onto the patched canvas. Then she moved on to another tear, knowing that time was of the essence. She peeked at him from under her thick auburn hair, letting her eyes linger at the sight of him working with a little smirk on his features, then returned to her own work, picking up the pace at the self-reminder that this time loss had been her own fault.

He chuckled when he heard her quiet comment. His hearing was sharp; he was a musician for cryin' out loud. She didn't miss her silly corsets.

"You just wanna know what it'll be like when I unlace you outta one," he replied with a wicked grin. He didn't even have to glance up at her to know she heard him. His expression like they were simply talking about the weather, he continued to pull the thread through the sail, focused on his task.

It was hours before the sail was completely mended, after lunch. It hadn't actually taken as long as he thought it was going to, which was good. Eevee was efficient with a needle, as he'd assumed she would be and after it was all patched up, he and Titus hooked it back up to the rear mast pole. The effect was nearly immediate. The wind caught the new sail and he felt the slight pull under his feet as the ship lurched forward faster. Thank. God.

He was checking their heading up by the helm when Rouge and Sabo came up to him. He glanced at them, "S'up?" he asked.

Rouge tipped her hat back so that it swayed over her shoulder blades, "How much longer?"

Raion crunched some numbers, "Tomorrow evening at the latest," he hedged, "We have a good tailwind going and as far as I can tell, smooth weather tonight and into tomorrow. Hopefully nothing else will delay us..." he muttered darkly at the end.

The dragon crossed her arms over her bikini top and shook her head, her ponytail of dark curls bouncing, "In that case, we're leaving tonight," she said, her voice quiet.

Raion flipped his gray eyes up to them, noticing how Rouge had said _we_ , not _I_ and he bounced his eyes over to Sabo and then back to her, "The both of you?"

Sabo nodded, "We talked about it while repairing the skiff," he said, his voice a near whisper, "We wanna see... _him_... before the crew gets there. And Jiji too."

The captain nodded and Rouge continued, "I can fly there faster than any ship. What will take you a day still I can make in a couple of hours. I can't wait anymore. And it'll be... cleaner," she tipped her chin at Sabo and Raion understood. As far as his crew went, Sabo only knew Jiji through Raion when they trained together with the old man during the summers. Without the crew present, Sabo could visit with their grandfather and his father freely. It made sense to him.

"Did you run this by Lukas?" he asked, knowing the ex-marine was uncomfortable without his wife around.

"He suggested it," Rouge shrugged.

"When will you leave?"

"Dark," Sabo said, "Easier to blend in while flying."

Raion nodded slowly, understandingly, "Fine. We'll see you tomorrow evening then. Tell my father I'm on my way," he was more worried about Luffy than he was his Jiji, at this point. God only knew Raion would be a disaster if he lost his father in the way that Luffy was losing Jiji, who was his father-figure.

He and Sabo bumped fists, "Aye, aye, senchou."

When Eevee woke up that morning, something felt odd about the ship. It was a difficult thing to explain, but somehow, it felt...different. Emptier? It was the oddest feeling, like looking into a room full of people that you looked into often, and realizing that some people were missing.

It must be something she was dreaming about, for such an odd feeling to occur to her in the morning. Dismissing it from her mind, she went about getting ready for the day. Margherita was still in bed, practically invisible among the nest of blankets and pillows that were heaped around her. Eevee tapped her on the head to wake the snake-girl, knowing she often liked to oversleep. Normally, Eevee mightn't have bothered, but she knew how close they were to their destination, and all hands were needed to get their as quickly as possible.

Especially with that odd feeling she had...

Margherita gave a low hiss and stirred in her nest. Lifting her head, she glowered at Eevee with glowing yellow eyes. Eevee shivered from the sight of them and moved away, towards the bathroom, just in case she felt like taking a swipe with those poisonous claws of hers. "Time to get up," Eevee supplied, smiling brightly at the girl to encourage her to get up.

Her answer was another hiss as Margherita buried herself back into the blankets.

"Well I hope you're at least out of bed by the time I'm finished showering," Eevee said with a sigh, shaking her head and heading into the bathroom.

A little while later, Eevee opened the door to the galley and stepped inside, followed by Margherita. The girl's blue hair was sticking up in different directions, and she had shadows under her scowling eyes. Eevee smiled brightly into the room full of faces, but noticed, immediately, that Rouge and Sabo were missing. So was Raion, but it was a different feeling than the one she had for the other two.

They were probably still getting up, she reasoned with herself.

"Good morning Eevee," Lukas said with a wan smile, clearly still waking up himself. He gestured to the seat next to him, and Eevee took it with an answering 'Good morning.'

Zeke placed a large platter of pancakes on the table, then handed her an empty plate. There were several platters already on the table, including a plate full of sausages and scrambled eggs. "It looks delicious Zeke!" Eevee told him, beaming at the fishman. The large man tipped his head at her, but there was a smile playing at the corners of his lips.

The previous night...

After flying for near three hours, Sabo spotted Fuusha Village glowing the in the night. It was a very small village, with a small port on the coast and a single Main Street. Without even needing to see it that well, he knew that street by heart. Party's Bar where Makino still bartended, a restaurant, an inn, the doctor's office and the mayor's house. That one street thinned out the farther someone travelled away from the docks, the countryside dotted with houses, small farms and windmills where the village aptly got its name.

One of these little farms was off the beaten path somewhat. It was nestled nearer the trees that eventually led into the mountains with fields rolling out front and a little bit of coastline not too far away. It was Garp's House, a place he had owned for many many years and only after he retired from the Marines did he take up permanent residence there. And it was in his big field that Rouge touched down, her huge dragon paws making little sound despite their enormous size.

Sabo leapt off her back and stretched as she shifted down to her normal human size of five and half feet. Clustered in the field were a dozen tents. He glanced around. No one rushed towards them. In fact, it seemed kinda empty here.

"It smells like everyone's in town right now," Rouge said like she was reading his thoughts, "It's just uncle and dad here..."

He glanced at her. Even in the weak glow that came from Jiji's porch, she looked pale, her freckles standing out harsh on her face. Sickness was her kryptonite. Inheritors of the Will of the D might not be able to fear things, but there were some things that just freaked them out. Luffy hated not protecting his friends. Ace hated regretting things. Raion hated feeling inferior. Rouge hated sickness.

Sabo held out his hand for hers. She took it, squeezing hard. They didn't need to speak to each other as they crossed the field and climbed the three steps onto the porch. He turned the knob, the grip so achingly familiar in his hand and with a creak, the door swung open.

The house was dark inside the first room, but a soft glow came from the back bedroom. Sabo could hear voices, low male voices, a gentle chuckle. He and Rouge made their way towards that room and when they stood in the doorway, the talking subsided.

Garp was sitting up in his bed, wearing a crisp white tee shirt and the sheets pulled up over his legs. Had it not been for the fact that he was hooked up to an IV in each arm and an oxygen tube under his nose and taped across his cheek, he looked exactly like the man he remembered. Strong and capable still, if only just a little bit thin.

Sitting in a chair to Garp's right was Ace. Sabo noted that it didn't look like his father had slept much recently. Smudges under his eyes and a thin shadow of stubble made him look a little haggard.

To Garp's left was Luffy-oji. He looked far, far worse and Sabo immediately wished Raion was here to be with his father. Luffy's eyes were bloodshot, his face a little thin like he hadn't had the heart to eat much lately and he too, had the shadows under his eyes and over his jaw. His straw hat rested on the bed near Garp's knee.

Ace stood up the moment he laid his eyes on them and Garp said from the bed, "Well! It's about damned time!"

Rouge released Sabo's hand and went to their father. She hugged him hard, wrapping her arms around his torso and Ace stroked her hair and kissed her temple like he'd used to when they were children. She let him go, glanced back at Sabo then moved to sit in the chair Ace had vacated.

"Hi, Jiji!" she greeted.

The old man chuckled, "There's my dragon princess."

Ace laid his hands on Sabo's shoulders; Sabo could feel the unnatural warmth radiating through his tee shirt. He stood eye-to-eye with his sire now, light blue eyes to dark mahogany, blonde hair to black. Every time Sabo looked in the mirror was another day he felt like Ace was looking back at him.

"It's been a while, punk," Ace said, giving him a little smirk.

Sabo returned the expression, "It was time to come back."

It went unspoken that his father missed him. During his childhood, Sabo had heard the same thing over and over again. He acted just like his mother; calm, cool, collected, nothing ever really bothered him. Rouge, on the other hand, was just like Ace. One minute, she could be chill and the next she was spouting the sass and flash temper she'd inherited from her father. His sister was a huge daddy's girl; attached to Ace's hip constantly. Sabo hadn't been bothered. He did his own thing. Ace had spoiled the shit outta Rouge and Ace had beaten the shit outta Sabo for training.

Rouge had left at seventeen when Sabo was barely twelve years old. It was painfully apparent how much Ace missed his daughter and he sorta just... started taking all of Sabo's time, really. They became inseparable. Best buds, really, as close to best buds as a father and son could get. They hadn't talked about it, hadn't planned it. It just happened. And while Sabo would never say that his father had favorites with his children, it was more obvious that Rouge was a total daddy's girl and she was Ace's little dragon princess. They talked more, they argued more, they had more feeling towards each other. Sabo and his father had a much more... subtle bond. Sabo preferred to talk more to his mother about life stuff - like girls - but he enjoyed Ace's company.

Sabo joined Rouge next to the bed, standing behind her while she talked to their great-grandfather. He placed his hand on her shoulder and she reached up silently and grabbed it, the only outlet she had to relieve her anxiety.

"Where's your partner in crime, brat?" Garp asked him.

He grinned, "He'll be here tomorrow," he said, "We got caught in a storm just outside the Calm Belt."

Garp snorted, "Thank god he takes after his mother," he turned to Luffy and pulled his cheek, "You should be grateful your wife's intelligence rubbed off on your children, punk."

The Pirate King chuckled a little.

Ace told them that they needed to let Garp rest for the night and suggested they go find their mother at Makino's. That's where everyone had decided to go for the evening, all the Straw Hats and their children.

"There's a surprise for you at the bar too," Ace gave Sabo a sly smirk.

Sabo frowned, "A surprise?"

"You'll like it, I promise."

Confused as to what could possibly be a surprise in a bar setting for him, at least, something that his father would give him such a look over, Sabo and Rouge left Jiji's and started walking down the road into the village.

They were probably half way there when Rouge sniffed and she gave Sabo an equally sly smirk, just like Ace's, "I know what the surprise is..." she drawled in a sing-song voice.

He crinkled his nose at her, "What?"

She waved, "I'm not telling you!" she laughed, "In fact..."

They entered the main drag of the village and he spotted someone walking towards them. He stopped dead in his tracks, freezing as his eyes recognized her before his brain could process. His sister laughed at him, waved her hand, shifted into her half form and took off, leaving him alone.

Even under the weak, artificial light that poured from the docks and the few lights on the street, she was radiant. Smooth, dark, coffee colored skin. Hair braided back into hundreds of little tiny braids that fell to the middle of her shoulder blades. Most of her features were obscured by shadows of the night, but he knew what she looked like. It was so deeply implanted into his memory and his heart that he'd never forget, not in a thousand lifetimes. Wide eyes, the color of melted gold, not hazel, not champagne, but gold, framed by dark lashes. A full mouth, a cute nose that was a little flat on the top.

She paused too, like she was surprised to see him. A breeze tumbled down the lane, teasing her long white sarong around her long legs. She was tall for a woman, only a few inches shorter than he was. She was wearing a tight tank top, dark in color, could've been red or blue or green. Over her shoulders like a shawl was a thin scarf that he knew despite the dark was brightly colored and intricately detailed.

She draped her hands over her hips, "Are you just gonna stand there or what?" she called, a slight French accent in her words.

Everything inside him tightened at her voice. He took one step, then another, then he was running towards her. To her credit, she didn't move and at the last possible second, he stopped and wrapped his arms around her, holding onto her so closely that he didn't know where she ended and he began. She laughed breathlessly and linked her arms around his neck. It was like he could finally breathe again, as if something had been pushing on his lungs for ten months and now it was gone and all that mattered was that she was here and if he never let her go for the rest of his life, it still wouldn't be long enough.

"Miss me?" Dahlia asked. She threaded her fingers into the hair at the back of his head.

"Like the night misses the stars," he replied, his hands pushing her tank top up her spine a little so he could touch skin. God, he owed his parents big time. He hadn't even known how much he needed her here until she was in his arms,

Dahlia took a deep breathe and then suddenly, she slinked an arm off of him and grabbed his chin in her hand, squeezing his face together slightly, "Where the hell have you been?" she demanded in rapid French, "Ten months is far too long! Six months, yes, fine, even eight months. But ten! I could've had your baby in that amount of time!"

His eyes widened, "You didn't though, right?" he replied in her language, his voice inhibited by her hand.

"Of course not! But you understand my point, yes?" she gently shook his face back and forth, "I do not like to wait so long."

He grinned, despite the fact that she was scolding him, "I'm sorry," he said.

She pouted and released his face, "You do not sound sorry," she muttered.

"I'm just happy to see you."

She regarded him for a moment then smiled and everything was so right, "I missed you."

"I love you."

She laughed and cupped his cheek. He leaned into it, "You are so free with your love."

"It's easy when it's you," he replied. He rubbed his nose against hers, "Where're you going?"

"I was heading for my tent..." He cocked a brow suggestively and she swatted his chest, "No. We have to go see your family first. They miss you too," she stepped back and he reluctantly released her body, but maintained a hold on her hand, "But perhaps later you can walk me back to my tent, yes?" her gold eyes flickered over him and his blood pressure spiked a little.

"Alright. I can be a gentleman for now," he agreed.

Dahlia nodded, "Good." And they started walking back towards the bar.

The morning, on the Hebi-Go...

Raion entered the galley to see that everyone was already there. Lukas, looking tired as usual while he waited for the caffeine to jump start his brain. Margherita with her messy hair and still in her pajamas. Eevee, well, everything inside him just stood to attention when he saw her anyway. She could've been wearing rags and smudged makeup for all he cared. Titus sat across from Margherita, scanning the morning paper and Zeke was busy setting plates out for everyone.

He already missed his best friend. He rarely had time away from Sabo.

He sat down next to Lukas, across from Eevee. Zeke had only set out five places - the fishman cook rarely ate with the crew. Some weird habit he'd acquired being a cook for so many years - and it made Raion feel blatantly aware of their missing nakama this morning. He could tell that Lukas was feeling bereft too. The marine never liked being away from Rouge. Something about suffering in a prison cell away from her must've permanently scarred him. At least, that's what Raion liked to think. Sabo insisted it was just how you felt when you were in a serious relationship with someone. Emptier when they were away.

Whatever. The point was Lukas missed Rouge already.

"We should arrive at Dawn Island before sunset," Raion offered, "You guys will be on your own probably for a bit."

Margherita shrugged, stuffing pancake in her face, "Whatever. You got family shit, we get it."

He turned to Lukas, "Did you need any more help with your skiff?"

The ex-marine did a half-shrug, half-nod, "I need to take a look at one of the cannons..." he started, pausing as Margherita snapped her head up to look at him with wide, excited eyes. She swallowed her pancake hard.

"Can I help?" she asked.

He chuckled, "Sure. I could always use another gearhead to help me."

Eevee's eyes skirted over the table, and she counted the plates. Even if people showed up at different times for meals, Zeke usually laid out plates for everyone. It was then that her weird feeling was confirmed. They were two plates short.

How could she had known that Rouge and Sabo were gone? And why the two of them? Something had always told her there was more to their relationship than everyone let on, and them disappearing together only added to her suspicions.

Which was all very odd, that she was having suspicions in the first place. She couldn't explain it at all. She wasn't about to tell the rest of the crew or they might think she was crazy, so instead, she said, "Rouge and Sabo aren't coming to breakfast, are they?"

She tried to phrase it as a question, but it ended up coming out somewhat like a statement. Lukas looked up from his newspaper and breakfast and nodded slowly. "No...Rouge flew ahead using her dragon fruit to announce our arrival. Sabo went with her."

No explanation was offered as to why Sabo went with her. It made a little sense, since Raion couldn't go as captain, that the vice-captain would go instead. Still, she couldn't help feeling like it was for another reason.

Eevee nodded slowly, and Lukas' gaze lingered on her for a second longer, as if some thoughts were also passing through his mind about her statement, but then he went back to his newspaper and food as if it was nothing but an innocent question.

"Well I hope we are not delayed any longer this time," Eevee added with a more cheerful voice, glancing at Raion. She was worried about him, knowing that he was going to see his dying great grandfather and that it would likely be more fresh in his mind the closer they got. Already he seemed a little quieter, but she really couldn't blame him.

She was also a little nervous, because she knew that likely, the whole Strawhat crew was going to be there. Though the circumstances are grave, she still can't believe that she will be meeting the true Pirate King! Such powerful and infamous people would be gathered on one island, and Eevee felt her stomach tight just thinking about it. People she'd admired all her life, people who had been her idols in her childhood...She was about to meet them.

She kept those feelings to herself, though, because she knew, given Garp's condition, that it would be inappropriate to act exciting about heading to an island where a dear family member was about to die on. Sighing quietly to herself, she took a bite of sausage.

They arrived at the docks at Fuusha Village just before sunset. The Sunny-Go was there, along with the secretly, SUPA powered vessel that Franky had made just for Ace to travel in. And another small boat that was flying the Kuja Pirate flag, meaning his sister was here with her attendants.

Rouge and Sabo were waiting for them at the docks, and surprisingly, Dahlia.

Zeke and Titus guided the Hebi against the docks and tied her up. Raion and Lukas jumped off the deck and landed on the docks, followed up Eevee and Margherita.

"Hey," he greeted Sabo and Rouge. He bumped fists with Sabo and Rouge darted past him to launch herself at Lukas. The ex-marine was ready though and braced his right foot back to catch her as she wrapped her arms and legs around him like a monkey. Raion could hear her talking rapidly into his ear, though he didn't understand the words. Lukas just nodded.

"Dahlia," Raion smirked.

"Raion," she replied, not quite pronouncing the 'n'. Dahlia wasn't his biggest fan, to put it mildly. Firstly, he'd tried to hit on her when they were teenagers and she had NOT liked that at all and secondly, she thought he was the ringleader that got Sabo in trouble all the time. And he may have gotten her in trouble a couple of times too. Her slight standoffish attitude entertained him to no end.

"Dahlia, my nakama," he introduced, "This is Eevee, our doctor. Margherita. Careful, she bites," to which the snake girl rolled her eyes, "Titus and Zeke. Don't worry about telling them apart, though Titus talks more as a general rule of thumb. And Rouge and Lukas, who you've met. Honorary members of my crew."

"You wish," Rouge turned her head around to comment.

"Crew, this is Dahlia," Raion continued like his cousin hadn't interrupted him.

"It is wonderful to meet you," Dahlia smiled, her voice tinged with her French accent, "Sabo has told me great things about you, yes?" she glanced up at the blonde man and he grinned and kissed her nose.

"Alright, kids!" Rouge finally detangled herself from her husband, "Let's roll. Zoro and Sanji said something about a huge bonfire tonight. And Garp is impatient to see Raion," she led the way down the street, her hand entangled with Lukas'.

Raion felt his blood clench in his body in anxiety. Rarely did he panic, but he might be flirting with the edges of it right now. His Ji-Ji. His father. He had to be strong for Luffy, who he knew, without a doubt, was falling apart right now.

Raion kept pace with Sabo and Dahlia, his crew trailing along behind him. He glanced back at Eevee once or twice, "So, what's going on up there?" he asked Sabo quietly.

His best friend shook his head, "Luffy needs you. Your mother needs you too. She's been hysterical all day. And... Garp is waiting."

He nodded and took a deep breath. It was just like Garp to hang on until he could see everyone.

The field came in sight. A dozen tents were arranged in a careful semi-circle around what looked to be a growing pile of brush and wood. Raion danced his eyes around, taking in everyone that was milling about. Robin and Franky, Zoro and Tikka and he spotted the twin girls. Sanji was cooking with his daughter, Cerise. Usopp too, with Kaya. Brook was playing the violin. Makino was there, with her son too. The mayor of the village, a few extra villagers, all here for Garp.

Chopper was missing, he noticed right away and that made his stomach feel hollow. Luffy, obviously, Ace and Mara was missing too.

"You!"

Raion stopped suddenly as a young woman appeared in front of him, a hand draped over her hip and her finger pointing at him dramatically. She was a pretty young thing, with loads of dark hair that had a gentle wave in it and wide, mahogany eyes. Today, she was wearing a red and purple dress adorned with snakes and a large slit up to her hip. Flanking her were two women around her own age, dressed similarly.

"How DARE you make Ji-JI wait so long for you!" she declared. Raion resisted the urge to roll his eyes and motioned with his hand for his crew to go on ahead of him.

"I'm sorry, Belle," he placated her.

She marched up to him. His seventeen year old sister's face looked just their mother's and she could be incredibly impulsive like Luffy, but the more time she spent on Amazon Lily, the more she started acting a little like Hancock. Much to his and Nami's chagrin.

She hugged him, "Oh, I've missed you, onii-chan!" she said when she released him and tossed her dark locks over her shoulder, "You remember my girls, right?" she gestured behind her to the two Amazonian women.

They cupped their cheeks and flushed hard, "Raion-sama!" they greeted like two little fangirls. He tipped his chin at them and rolled his eyes for real this time. All the women on Amazon Lily were obsessed with him and his father. And since Hancock hadn't been able to have Raion or Luffy, she'd kidnapped Belle and was grooming her to be the next Hebi-Hime.

"Hancock sends her love," Belle said, taking his arm and marching with him across the field.

"Great," he sighed, "She send love to dad too?"

"Of course," Belle replied, "She wrote him a big long love letter filled her with condolences and professing her unlimited apologies for his loss and that if he ever needed anything, she was always there for him," she clutched her heart like it was the most romantic gesture in the world before making a sick face, "I think mom zapped it with lightning and didn't even let dad see it."

"As she should," he muttered darkly, "You seen dad or Jiji?"

She nodded and her face puckered with sadness and an inkling of tears, "You have no idea..." she whispered.

Well. That made him feel so much better. He was beginning to feel sick in the pit of his stomach.

"It's so sad to watch Daddy..." she continued, "I had to leave the room, I just couldn't..."

They were at the porch. Nami was waiting for them. Time hadn't done much to dim her beauty. She was still tall and lovely, with loads of copper hair. Perhaps she was softer around the edges than she once had been and some laugh lines around her eyes, but her mind was sharp and so was her tongue.

Raion certainly loved his father, but be damned if he didn't have a completely soft heart for Nami.

Belle released his arm and bounded up to their mother and kissed her cheek before disappearing into the house.

Nami looked at him and she immediately started to cry. Raion swallowed a suspicious lump in his throat as she hugged him, resting her head against his shoulder and crying into his tee shirt.

"Your father needs you," he heard her hiccup, "It's... it's so s-s-sad. I've n-never seen him like this before, not even when Ace..."

Raion nodded and pulled back a little so he could see her, "There's no time to cry right now, Mom," he said softly, "Dad needs you to be strong, you know? Because he can't be right now."

She nodded and wiped her face with the back of her hand, "I know, it's just..." she laid her hand against her chest, "My heart hurts for him."

Sabo appeared then at Raion's elbow. He was alone. Raion glanced behind them to see Dahlia was talking to Margherita and Eevee.

"Let's go," Sabo said to him and Nami, "Chopper said..."

Without even him finishing the sentence, it was apparent was Chopper had said. It was time. Now or never again.

Raion held his mother's hand and they walked up the stairs and entered the house, Sabo right behind them.

The back bedroom was full of people in varying stages of grief. Ace and Luffy sat on either side of Garp, who was propped up by some pillows in his bed. Two more chairs had been placed next to the brothers and currently, Rouge sat next to Ace and Belle sat next to Luffy. Mara was standing behind Ace, her hand threaded through his hair and Lukas stood behind Rouge. The ex-marine said something that made Garp chuckle before winding down into coughing.

Raion felt the edges of grief creep up his spine.

As soon as he entered the doorway, Luffy's head snapped up and the Pirate King shot to his feet and was over to Raion in less time than it took Raion to draw a breath. His father hugged him hard and he could feel Luffy's shoulders pulse up and down as he hyperventilated.

"Breathe," Raion whispered, "Don't fall apart in front of Jiji. Keep it together."

He grabbed his father by his shoulders as Luffy tried to take a few deep breaths in and out, "I'm glad you're here," Luffy said.

Raion guided him back to his chair and stood behind it. Nami was covering her mouth, trying so hard not to cry and Belle was doing the same, "Hey, Ji-JI!" Raion greeted, forcing a smile.

"There you are!" Garp said, "Finally! I've been waiting for you, brat!"

"I know, I'm sorry," seeing Garp like this was making him feel like he couldn't breath deep enough. Strung up to IVs and oxygen, his breath shorter than usual, a little raspy. Raion swallowed hard.

"You two boys..." Garp said, his voice harsh, like a man about to scold his naughty children rather than on his deathbed, "You and Sabo, worse than your fathers! Always in trouble! You!" he pointed at Raion, "Always chasing skirts. And you!" he pointed to Sabo, "You should've been a Marine."

Sabo actually chuckled, "Really now?"

Garp nodded, "You would have been a great Marine. But, I suppose I'll settle for Lukas."

"Settle for me, sir?" Lukas cocked a brow.

"You were a good Marine," Garp complimented with an affirmative nod, "And you kept my dragon princess out of jail."

Rouge nodded and two tears squeezed out of her eyes, but she didn't speak. Beside her Ace rubbed his hand over his eyes and sniffled.

"Don't you start crying now," Garp said, tapping the top of Ace's head.

"I'm not, Jiji," he said, his voice tight, but to his credit, he wasn't crying.

"Good. Because I already have to deal with this crybaby," he jerked his thumb at Luffy.

"I'm not a crybaby!" Luffy exclaimed as tears poured down his cheeks. He couldn't wipe them away fast enough.

"Make sure you take care of him," the old man said to Ace.

"I always do," Ace replied.

"And you," he turned to Luffy, "You are so lucky. You are both, so lucky. Trouble. Always causing me trouble," he coughed and Raion didn't fail to notice his father's body tense, "All I wanted were two good Marine boys. Instead, I get a family of pirates!" he shook his head sadly, "I'm proud of you anyway," he said gruffly and Ace did that thing where he covered his eyes and took a couple of shaky breaths, "Beautiful wives..."

Nami made a tortured sound and covered her face with her hands. Raion rubbed her spine. Across the bed, Mara gripped Ace's shoulder hard.

"... beautiful daughters..."

Belle was draped over the bed, crying into her arms and Rouge sat there, silent tears tracking down her face. She didn't even bother to try to wipe them away, but she wasn't weeping either.

"... mischievous sons..."

Raion and Sabo shared a look. Sabo looked like the color was slowly draining from his face. Raion felt the same way, like someone was siphoning his blood out.

Chopper leaned into Garp and whispered something in his ear that no one heard, but Garp nodded and muttered, "I know."

Luffy sat up and glanced behind him. Raion followed his father's eyes. The machine that Garp was hooked up to wasn't making any noise, but the lines were going crazy. Dropping down far, then fluttered back up. The doctor had turned the sound off so that no one would know that Jiji's health was rapidly deteriorating.

The Pirate King started to hyperventilate again.

"Ace," Garp said, turning his gaze to him, "You asked me a long time ago why you were alive, do you remember?"

Ace nodded, covering his mouth with his hand.

"And I told you if you kept living, you'd find the answer?"

Again, he nodded.

"This..." Garp weakly lifted his hand to gesture around them, "This is your answer."

Mara made a noise behind Ace and wiped her face. Sabo covered his eyes with his hand. Ace nodded, but this time, two tears tracked down his cheeks, "I know," he whispered.

"Luffy," the old marine turned to his grandson, "You..." he laid a hand on Luffy's head, "You turned out alright. I'm proud of you," he laid his other hand on Ace's head, "I'm proud of both of you."

"Jiji..." Luffy whimpered, less like a grown man and more like a child.

"Cut that out now. You're the Pirate King. No crying." Garp took a deep breath and Raion braced himself. This was it, he just knew it, "Take care of each other. Promise?"

Both Luffy and Ace nodded and Garp closed his eyes and smiled, "Good. That's... good."

Then there was silence.

Luffy buried his face in his straw hat and ducked his head against the bed, his shoulders shaking and fast breathing the only sound he made as he cried. Raion could feel Luffy's heart breaking. It was like a deep ache in his chest.

Ace leaned his head down against the bed and tapped Luffy's head, "Hey," he whispered. Tears fell down his cheek, but he was coherent, "Lookit me."

Luffy pulled his head up and the two brothers were nearly nose to nose, "Remember when Jiji brought you to Dadan's the first time? I thought you were the weirdest little kid on the planet."

The Pirate King let out a little half-chuckle broken by tears.

"And you followed me around forever, bugging me..." Ace continued, his voice a low, constant rumble. He braced one of his hands on the back of Luffy's head and after a couple of moments of talk, Luffy mimicked the gesture so that they were forehead to forehead, talking low. Mostly Ace talked and Luffy did a lot of nodding and crying and occasionally smiling.

"Let's go..." Raion muttered, glancing at Sabo and touching Belle's shoulder. She sat up, her breath stuttering and jumped to her feet and latched her arms around Raion's neck. sobbing. He rubbed her back with one hand and gestured to his mother with the other. She nodded and laid her hand on her husband's shoulder. Without taking his eyes away from Ace, Luffy touched her hand with his free one and they lingered like that for a few moments before she finally let him go.

Raion, with his mother's hand in one and Belle's in the other, led the way out of the house. Rouge and Lukas were behind him and Sabo and Mara brought up the rear. He turned to glance at his best friend before he opened the front door. Sabo kissed his mother's cheek, squeezed her hand and then let her go.

They exited the house and every single pair of eyes in that field turned towards them. A few people gasped and hands danced over mouths as it became apparent that Garp was gone. Tikka and Usopp took off their hats, crying. Makino covered her face with her hands.

"What do we do now?" Belle asked.

Raion looked around him, at his mother trying to pull herself together, at Rouge who was wiping her face and sucking it up hardcore. To Lukas and Sabo and Mara, who looked as though they'd seen a train wreck and were still in shock over it. A heavy silence weighed down over the field, as if the very sky stopped breathing. Raion glanced at Sabo quickly, then to Rouge. She sniffled and took a deep breath like she was composing herself and locked eyes with Raion. He nodded at her. For once, he didn't want to make the decisions.

She marched down the stairs, pulling Lukas behind her and stepped past him, Nami, and Belle. She turned in the direction of the bonfire and Sanji, and took a deep breath, then let it out:

"Sanji, I need a ton of food, and a ton of alcohol. Stat. And keep it coming till I pass out, okay?"

For once, Cerise was quiet and subdued when her father stepped away from her. He faced Rouge and bowed, nodding his head solemnly. "It would be my pleasure to make a feast worthy of the great Monkey D. Garp."

Looking as if she was fighting back more tears, Rouge took a moment before she could answer. Behind her, Lukas squeezed her hand gently. "That would be great, thank you Sanji," she told him.

"I'll go get more sake," Zoro announced, looking across the field at Rouge and Lukas and nodding at both of them in respect.


	8. Chapter 8

***** DISCLAIMER, PLEASE READ- A Pirate's Life for Me is the third (kinda fourth) published story in this One Piece Universe that I and Jesachi, u/711995/Jesachi, have written together. Many people really enjoyed the first one, The Way of the Sword and Rose, but Jesachi and I have moved on to other writing in our lives, and we don't think we're ever going to go back and edit these. Therefore, this is a WARNING that this story is completely UN-EDITED and also written as a roleplay between myself and Jesachi, so the point of view switches between the two main characters every now and then. If this bothers you, don't read it :) We are only publishing these because we thought our fans might want to see the direction we took with our One Piece Universe. I hope you enjoy! Raion and Eevee are an amazing couple, and Luffy's entire crew makes an appearance eventually :)**********

Just as Evelyn expected, her nervousness to meeting the worlds most renown pirates was severely dampened by the fact that someone very close to them was dying. The tone of the field where the Strawhats, family, and friends were camped was considerably subdued, she guessed, than it normally would have been with such boisterous people all gathered in one place.

She was introduced to many new people, the first being Dahlia, Sabo's lady. She was a dark-skinned, French-speaking beauty who radiated a sense of confidence and happiness, even in the midst of such a sad event. Her beautiful golden eyes were sincere and when she spoke to Evelyn, she felt like Dahlia's whole world had narrowed down to what Evelyn was saying. That is just the kind of woman she was, Evelyn guessed.

Evelyn liked her immensely.

Dahlia and Margherita both took it upon them to introduce her to everyone gathered. Everyone was very friendly, offering smiles and asking polite questions about how and when she joined Raion's crew. The curly white haired lady, who also had golden eyes, was very friendly and announced to the green haired man-the legendary swordsman Zoro-that she liked Evelyn immediately after it was revealed that Evelyn was a noble lady who had run away to become a pirate.

"See? I'm not the only chick to run away from a life of captivity and boredom to become a pirate. She's got spunk, this one," Tikka announced with a grin, nudging Zoro with her hip. The swordsman turned his one good eye on Evelyn, making only a grunt in response, but his gaze was piercing, as if he could see into Evelyn's very soul. The hair on the back of her neck stood up in response, and she nervously thrust out her hand and bowed over it twice.

"Z-Zoro-sama! It's so nice to meet you...You and the rest of your crew have been my idols since my childhood," she explained in a stammering voice, her cheeks bursting into color. She looked up into his piercing eye, then immediately had to look away, her gaze skirting back over to Tikka, who was grinning widely and looking from her husband to Evelyn and back.

Zoro blinked, then a small smile turned the corners of his lips. He looked like he was considering what to say when a loud voice intruded on their conversation from behind Evelyn.

"Beautiful ladyyyy!" a male voice called, and suddenly a tall blond man with a goatee swept in between her and Zoro, grabbing her hand and spinning her around in a pirouette. Her dancing instincts kicked in and she lifted herself up on tiptoes, her leather boots twirling in the grass. Much to her surprise, though, the man was so skilled that she had a feeling she wouldn't have fallen even if she didn't know any dancing; his hand was firm and sure in hers.

He seemed equally surprised, his eyes lighting up with excitement, and he ended the pirouette in a sudden and dramatic dip that had her long auburn hair sweeping the grass. When they finally stopped moving, his face was a mere foot from her own, and she blinked up at him, her mouth forming a little O of surprise.

"Wow! This beautiful lady can dance!" he said in a mushy, almost whining tone, "Will you marry me, beautiful lady?"

Even more heat suffused into her face, and Evelyn stammered out, "B-but you don't even know my name!"

"Who needs names when-" his words were cut off when Zoro shot forward and hit him on the head, sharply, with the hilt of one of his blades. Evelyn would have tumbled down to the grass as the blond man flinched, releasing her to hold his suddenly aching head, but arms...many arms...caught her.

"Baka! You're so disgusting. Take your hands off of her," Zoro grumbled, and the blond man, after checking to see that Evelyn had not, in fact, fallen to the ground, rounded on him, yelling, "You made me drop this lovely woman! How dare you!" Within seconds, their words blended together in a series of curses and growling.

Evelyn stared, completely frozen in shock from what had just transpired. After three seconds, she started, looking down at who was holding her...only to see that she was being held up by several sets of hands...that had grown out of the grass...

Evelyn let out a squeak of surprise and scrambled away from the hands, regaining her footing and stumbling several feet from them, but just as she was free...they disappeared. Into flower petals.

A rich laughter came from her left, away from where the two men were now getting in to a row. Evelyn turned her head to find a tall busty woman with shinning black hair and deep blue eyes smiling at her. Evelyn had the strangest feeling that those hands which had caught her belonged to this lady. Her eyes dropped down to her hands, which were crossed under her ample breasts, then back up to her face. "Hello. You must be Burbank Evelyn, the notorious 'kidnapped' noble lady," the woman said, her voice velvety and soft.

Mouth hanging open and eyes wide, Evelyn nodded slowly, then looked back at the green and blond haired men. Tikka was behind them, giggling with Margherita. Dahlia was now flanked by two young ladies, identical except for their clothes, both with beautiful curly white hair, just like Tikka's, cut at different lengths. Evelyn realized they must be Zoro and Tikka's children, and they were scowling at their father with pink cheeks as if embarrassed by his behavior rather than amused by it like their mother was.

Then it occurred to her what, exactly, the raven-haired lady had said. Her head whipped back around, and she frowned at her. "Hold on, how do you know my full name? And that...that I was a noble?"

The woman chuckled, but her smile was warm. "Because I read about you in the newspaper. And I also heard about you joining Raion's crew from Nami. My name is Nico Robin. It's nice to meet you."

Nico Robin. Evelyn memory was jogged by the name, and all of the pieces suddenly git together. Nico Robin was the famous pirate archeologist who had eaten the flower flower fruit. Those hands _had_ been hers. Evelyn's shocked expression turned awed, and she turned to face the woman fully. "Oh wow! I've read so much about you! You're absolutely amazing! Out of the Strawhat Crew, you and Nami were my biggest idols...women pirates, members of the strongest crew in the world!"

"My wife is pretty amazing, but not as SUPA as me!" A deep voice interrupted their conversation when a giant man with blue hair and robotic-looking arms stepped up behind Robin, grinning wide and showing off the star that was half on one arm, half on the other. "I'm Franky, the crew's shipwright and legendary cyborg!"

Robin shook her head with a sigh, then completely ignored the interruption to say, "The blond man is Sanji, he's our cook. He loves the ladies, so don't take his proposal offensively. He's always like that," she said simply with a shrug and a hopeless smirk, looking over Evelyn's shoulder to where the row continued.

Evelyn spun around, nodding as she finally connected his face with the wanted posters she'd known all her life. "Oh, I see...that makes sense. I hear his cooking is amazing!"

The loud ruckus of the row ended suddenly, and Sanji shot away from Zoro-narrowly missing a slice of the green-haired man's katana-to appear right in front of Evelyn. "Shall I cook something for you, beautiful lady?" he asked in a high, eager voice.

Evelyn lifted a hand to her mouth to try and stifle her laugh. "Oh, well...you still don't know my name. I'm Evelyn, by the way...it's nice to meet you, Sanji-sama."

Sanji blinked, then straightened up with a dramatic sweep of his arm, "Oh! She called me sama! I'll be your master any day!"

"No! Papa, stop flirting and get your ass back over here and finish cooking with me! I'm hungry," an imperious, clear voice cut through the laughter and chuckles from the rest of the crew. Evelyn turned her head towards the fire-pit in the center of the tents to see a beautiful girl about the same age as Zoro and Tikka's twins, with shinning blond curls that fell past her delicate shoulders. She was wearing a frilly white dress, and her blue eyes featured scowling blond brows over them. Her hands were fisted over her hips, and a spatula jutted out from one of them. She stomped her foot and tilted her chin haughtily, and demanded in her pretty voice, "Now." Evelyn was immediately reminded of a princess.

"Oh! My beautiful Cerise, of course! Papa is coming!" Sanji took off towards the girl, and Evelyn knew, suddenly, that this girl was his daughter.

Evelyn shook her head slowly, feeling dizzy from the onslaught of craziness that had just surrounded her. "Wow..." she murmured to herself, and Dahlia, suddenly at her side, let out a husky chuckle.

"They are quite a crew, no?" she asked, her voice rolling her r's in a pleasant lilt.

Evelyn nodded slowly, "Yeah...quite amazing. Nothing at all like I thought they would be, from their wanted posters and what I read in the papers growing up."

Margherita was on her other side by then, and smirked, crossing her arms over her flat chest. "Yeah...pretty amazing that morons like him are so famous and powerful, right?" She jerked her head in the direction of Sanji, who was flourishing a spoon extravagantly while twirling his little girl.

"Yeah, I had-" her words were interrupted when the door to Garp's house opened again, and all eyes turned towards it. A sudden hush fell over everyone, and out came Raion, an orange-haired woman who had to be the famous Nami, the pretty black-haired girl whom Margherita had said was his sister, Sabo, Rouge, and a blond woman that Evelyn didn't know.

Evelyn knew, just as sure as everyone in that field suddenly knew, that the legendary Monkey D. Garp had passed away. A great sadness swept over Evelyn, even though she had never met the man. She could feel the grief pouring off of those figures who had been family to him, as well as from every single person who stood around her. Looking around, Evelyn could see that several people had started crying; Tikka had taken her beautiful hat off and had tears tracking down her cheeks. Next to her, Zoro reached down and took her smaller hand in his, his own face grave.

Her heart squeezed, and her eyes found Raion. He was holding on to his mother and sister, the most composed out of the group. She had a feeling, though, that sadness was ripping him up inside just as surely as it was his crying mother and sister. As if drawn in by his sadness, she took an involuntary step towards him, then stopped, biting her lip. He had his family to comfort him...he wouldn't need her. Still, the desire to wrap him up in her arms was strong, shockingly so, and she was so focused on Raion that she missed Margherita's knowing glance and Dahlia's questioning look that Margherita answered with a subtle nod of her head.

As soon as Rouge moved and declared she wanted to drink herself into oblivion, everyone started moving. Franky and Titus started constructing tables - Raion didn't even question where the lumber had come from - Zeke jumped in to help Sanji with the cooking and Zoro, Usopp and Makino's son headed back down towards the bar to presumably clean the place out of sake. Margherita jumped in to help them and Raion could tell even from across the field that she was explaining the shit load of sake on his ship. She motioned for Lukas to help her and the ex-marine kissed Rouge before heading towards the docks with the rest to gather said barrels.

He watched the fluster of movement, part of him not comprehending it for a moment. That... that was it. Garp was gone. He ached for the loss, but the bulk of his sadness came from his father and his uncle, especially his father. He could taste Luffy's grief in the back of his throat.

And the helpless feeling that really, there was nothing he could do to help. Time would do what it did best in this situation. Time. Family. Happiness. But there wasn't anything that Raion could fight away to help his father. Strength and wits were useless here. He knew that was how Sabo was feeling too. And Nami. And Mara. Even his sister too.

"Hime-sama!"

Belle squeezed his hand and bounded down the stairs into the waiting arms of her attendants. Alright, maybe Raion wasn't being nice enough, calling them her "attendants". They were sorta her best friends. Amazon Lily exclusive best friends. The two young woman wrapped their arms around her, rubbing her back and stroking her hair, hushing her as she tried to compose herself.

That left Raion, Nami, Sabo and Mara on the porch still when Chopper came out.

The reindeer doctor sighed, "I figure in the morning, I'll come back and between the three of us," he gestured into the house, meaning him, Luffy and Ace, "Can take care of things. That will give them some time before everyone else shows up." he glanced at all four of them and there was a collective nod.

"The ridge," Raion suggested, his voice rough, "Near Dadan's..."

Chopper nodded, "He suggested that," the he indicative of Ace. No one really said his name when referring to him in mixed company, "We'll do that in the morning. Then maybe in the afternoon, people can come back afterwards to visit..."

He understood. Luffy and Ace would have some time to be together at the grave, then Ace could ghost out in time before anyone else wanted to go visit. Which would be everyone.

Mara nodded, "That's good..." she whispered. She flickered her sapphire eyes - ones that matched Rouge's but not Sabo's - to her son before she said, "I'm gonna see Rouge..." and she stepped down the stairs, her very being a study in grace and fluidity.

She had to be tortured right now. She couldn't comfort her husband or her son. And she wasn't as used to that as Rouge and Sabo were. Mara wasn't often at occasions where Ace's existence was a secret. Ace was well-known at both the Straw Hat compound and her home island, both of which were isolated from towns or, in her home island case, the whole world.

There were only three groups of people that knew about Ace: The Red Hair Pirates, the Straw Hat Pirates and the citizens of Rocturtue Island. If anyone else had been told, not a word had been uttered or even breathed about it.

Sabo reached out and grabbed Raion's shoulder and squeezed. Raion nodded and his best friend took off across the field. He grabbed Dahlia, who was talking to Eevee, and interrupted their conversation by hugging the Creole woman hard, gripping her tank top in his fingers.

"Who's that, talking to Dahlia?" Nami asked Raion. They were the only two left.

"New nakama," he replied, "Eevee, my doctor."

"Oh," his mother looked thoughtful, "She's very pretty."

"Would you like to meet her? She's a big fan of yours."

"Really?" Nami asked, "Well, I look terrible," she wiped at her face, "So hopefully she's not too disappointed."

Raion grinned, and started walking across the field, "You're fine. She won't be."

He couldn't be with his father. He couldn't be with his mother. He really shouldn't be hanging around Rouge so much. He wondered if Mara had the foresight to think that when she'd decided to bring Dahlia here with her and Ace. Sabo needed someone. And he could love up Dahlia anytime, anywhere because it didn't matter.

She threaded her fingers through his thick blonde hair and whispered to him in French, assurances and confidence boosters. Things he needed to hear.

"Where's Luffy?" she asked, pulling back and framing his face with her smooth hands covered in those red tattoos she loved so much. Her question was innocent enough, but he could tell from her eyes that she was really asking 'where's Luffy AND Ace'.

"He's in the house still," Sabo replied, "I don't think he'll be coming out for a while. He's a disaster. He needs some time alone."

Dahlia nodded and kissed his face. A smile was inevitably pulled onto his face.

It didn't take long for Sanji and Zeke to begin churning out heaps of food, and Zoro and Lukas became responsible for dispersing mugs full of beer and sake to everyone. It was dark by then, and the glow of the bonfire illuminated a good portion of the field; Usopp and a man she didn't know continuously heaped fresh wood and brush onto the pile, maintaining the monstrous blaze that sent twirling embers up into the night sky.

Evelyn found herself seated between Sabo and Margherita, with Dahlia at Sabo's other side and Tikka on Margherita's other side. Raion was across the bonfire with his family, seated between his mother and sister. She'd wanted to go over to him as soon as the feast had started, but he was continuously being spoken to by his family and other members of the Strawhats, and Evelyn hadn't wanted to interrupt. She was hoping, perhaps a little later, she would be able to speak to him privately. He'd introduced his mother to her earlier, which had been sublime, but the sadness on them both had been apparent, and they'd been pulled away quickly thereafter.

A plate heaped with food sat before her, and she was slowly making her way through the myriad of delicious things that Sanji and Zeke made. Though she adored Zeke's cooking, she could tell that Sanji had most certainly earned his title as greatest cook in the world; his food practically melted in her mouth and was filled with flavors she never knew existed.

Glancing over to the bonfire, she could see that the blond man, along with his beautiful daughter, were continually speaking to Zeke, and the fishman nodded to all of the comments, his brow furrowed in concentration. They were giving him pointers to improve his cooking, and Evelyn smiled, taking a bite of bread.

"And then Luffy jumped into the ocean, like an idiot, and Zoro and I raced to see who would get to him first. I won, of course," Tikka was saying to Margherita, and Evelyn's focus returned to her nakama. Tikka's story made her realize, with a start, that she still hadn't seen her biggest idol: Monkey D. Luffy, the king of the pirates.

She turned to Sabo, catching him mid-bite as she asked, "Where's Luffy-sama?"

Sabo blinked, then worked to chew and swallow his food quickly, with Dahlia chuckling at him. Finally, he glanced over to Garp's house and nodded towards it. "He stayed with Garp by himself. More than anyone, Luffy is taking this the hardest. Garp was like a father to him."

Evelyn's eyes trailed towards the little house at the edges of the woods. For some reason, she knew that there were people in there. It was a similar feeling to the one that had told her that Rouge and Sabo had left the ship that very morning.

"By himself? But there's someone else in there with him," Evelyn said. The words had popped out of her mouth within even thinking about them. She dragged her eyes away from the cabin to look at Sabo with a surprised expression. A furious blush stole up her cheeks and she waved both of her hands in a nervous gesture, "I mean, that's really silly. I don't know why I said that. I'm sorry! That made me sound like a crazy lady. Of course...Garp is in there too."

Sabo was staring at her, a piece of bread halfway to his mouth. His eyes were startled, but he was gazing at her with a sudden intensity that she felt instantly uncomfortable. She shifted a little on the bench and stared at her food even harder. He must totally think she's insane, she reasoned with herself.

"Um, excuse me, I think I need a drink," Evelyn stammered and got to her feet, hurrying away from her friends towards where Zoro and Lukas were sitting by several kegs of sake and beer.

Back at the bench, Sabo was staring after Evelyn with the look in his eye like he was furiously thinking about something. Margherita caught his gaze, and having overheard the conversation, said, "She said something weird like that this morning too, about you and Rouge being gone. She was probably just wondering why you weren't at breakfast when you're normally there before anyone," Margherita laughed, grinning after the auburn-haired girl.

Sabo's gaze flickered over to Margherita, and he frowned, but he didn't say anything. His eyes wandered down to the plate in front of him. The way Evelyn had said what she had...it was like she'd _known_ about Ace being in there too. The way she'd spoken...it wasn't like she was talking about Garp. She'd sounded like she was talking about someone _alive_ , not a body. And what Margherita said made the hairs at the back of his neck stand up. Is it possible...?

No, that would be absurd. More likely he was just over thinking things. She couldn't know about Ace.

"You okay, chere?" Dahlia asked in a quiet voice, and he jumped, startled from his thoughts. He looked over at his woman and smiled, all traces of anxiety gone from his features.

"Of course, just worried that our new doctor had a little too much to drink already. She is a lightweight, you know..." he chuckled, looking back over at Evelyn, who was laughing something Lukas was saying.

Dahlia's frown lingered for a moment, clearly unconvinced by Sabo's unusual acting, but then, a great tragedy had just befallen his family. One was bound to act out of character. "I'm sure she is fine. She has more spunk that she lets on, that one, yes?" Dahlia said with a smile, following Sabo's gaze.

"Yes...she does..." Sabo mused, taking a bight of bread.

A few hours into this charade and he was done.

Don't get him wrong, he loved his family. He hadn't seen them in months. He'd missed his mother and Zoro-oji, whom he was very close to, and Franky-oji and Robin-oba and his sister, even. And after feeling so helpless and unable to do anything about Garp-ji-ji and feeling so... shocked, really, over his death and not able to really process it fully and for certain, so heartbroken for his father and knowing and having to deal with the fact that there was nothing he could do to help Luffy overcome this, well. He was done.

Like his mother, he craved alone time when he was feeling overwhelmed. He had been overwhelmed from the start, but he was also playing substitute for the steady foundation that kept his mother and his sister stable while Luffy couldn't. So he'd stayed.

He was in the middle of some sort of half-drunken argument Nami and Bellemere were engaging in over some dramatics his sisters had done when something emotional pricked him. Something not his. Which wasn't strange because the myriad of emotional high pulsating through this field right now was off the charts. But this was different.

It was a spike of anxiety. And it came from Sabo.

Raion snapped his eyes up, seeking his best friend. He was sitting across the clearing on the other side of the bonfire, eating slowly and watching Eevee like she was a riddle he couldn't answer. Then Dahlia called his attention and the feeling was gone.

That's when he decided to call it quits. Clearly, he was hallucinating on the emotional scale now.

"I'mma go check on dad," Raion leaned in to whisper to his mother. Her mahogany eyes, glazed a little from sake, widened slightly, but she nodded.

He slinked around the perimeter, trying to be inconspicuous but not obvious until he was climbing the porch stairs and easing into the house. It was dark and quiet. He listened, but there were no voices. He crept through the house to the bedroom in the back... and leaned against the doorframe, swallowing something incredibly heavy in his throat.

Luffy and Ace were sleeping. The crowns of their heads were touching and each of them had a hold of one of Garp's hands. Ace had his other hand on Luffy's head and Luffy was fisting the brim of his straw hat. And Ji-Ji was smiling. They could've all been sleeping if he didn't know better. His father and his uncle reminded him of children, hunched over, sleeping on their father's lap after a bedtime story or something.

"You and Sabo used to sleep like that."

Raion jumped a foot in the air probably, his heart racing as Mara appeared suddenly in the doorway, leaning on the opposite side.

"Where...?" Raion started, "You shouldn't be in here..." he finished.

She shrugged, "Hun, I've been in here five times already tonight."

He blinked, "How...?" it was more than unwise for her to be sneaking in here, even if she was just checking in on her husband. Who was supposed to be dead.

She laughed softly, then turned on her heel and dissolved into a puddle of clear water on the floor. With another gentle swish-swirl, she transformed back into her human figure and swept her long, sunshine blonde hair over her shoulder. That was all the answer he needed.

Mara-oba nodded her head towards the sleeping men, "Ace would read stories to you two in the bed and I'd find the three of you sleeping just like that," she continued quietly, "You'd have your hand on Sabo's head and your thumb jammed in your mouth."

He smiled despite himself, "I don't remember that," he allowed.

She returned his smile, "You were little then. Two, maybe three years old. Looking out for Sabo even so young."

"Ace-oji looks out for dad."

Mara sighed and shook her head slightly, though not in a disagreeing away, "You'd be surprised how much Ace relies on Luffy to be his anchor." she glanced at Raion, "How's my boy?" she asked.

"Haven't had much time to talk to him?" he replied and when she shook her head, he shrugged, "He's great, don't worry. You'll find an opportunity soon."

She nodded, "I know."

Raion didn't stay terribly long with his Mara-oba. When she told him he looked tired, it was like it had suddenly dawned on him that his day had been so emotionally taxing that he was completely drained. So, he'd left Garp's house just as unobtrusively as he'd went in and skirted around the edge of the bonfire and headed back to his ship.

The street of Fuusha Village was silent as he walked down the dirt strip towards the docks. Each building he passed had a fleeting memory attached to it. The time he stayed in the Mayor's Office all day and pretended to be the mayor of the village. Getting stitched up at the doctor's because he sliced his hand open. Party's Bar, where Makino worked... there was a bulk of memories there. Him and Sabo getting smashed and Grap dragging them out. Playing music. Making Eevee take her first shot of sake at 13 years old...

He hadn't seen much of his doctor tonight. He'd introduced her to Nami, which had been hilarious, actually. She'd dragged all her hair over one shoulder and bowed and stammered out a "how do you do" mixed with a "I'm a huge fan" and his mother had declared that she was wonderful. Though, she'd said that with her infamous cat burglar grin and Raion wondered what was all about, exactly...

His ship was just as quiet as the village. From the pier, he could see the light and smoke from the bonfire and if he listened, he could hear the people talking and occasionally yelling. Probably Zoro-oji and Sanji fighting. Maybe Margherita too.

In his room, Raion kicked his boots off and flopped into his bed on his belly. Ahhh. Bed. He was so tired... he rolled over and stared at the ceiling. Would he even be able to sleep, despite his exhaustion? Images of his father and Ace, lying over the bed, holding Garp's hands seemed to be the image that came to mind. Ji-Ji was gone. That was it. The end. Shut the book, the story's over. He couldn't process. It didn't feel real yet. Like, he was gonna go away for a while and then come back to this village, whether it be a couple of weeks or months or whatever and he'd walk up the lane and down the path and there'd be Ji-Ji, tilling the gardens or reading the paper on the porch.

But it was real. It was real because the heartache was real and the way his father had broken down was real. It just... didn't feel that way yet.

Though Evelyn was enjoying herself, especially considering she was getting to spend time with the heroes of her childhood, she was also consciously aware of the heaviness in the air. There was a sort of forced joviality to the atmosphere. This heaviness was alleviated a little when, well into the night, Maikino suddenly said, "You know, I think we should have a service for Garp-sama tomorrow...and then maybe we should celebrate his life. Have a party or something...He wouldn't want us moping around, and nothing would be more like him than to send him off with a bang," she said in a quiet, thoughtful tone.

A murmur of agreement swept around the campfire, and Nami lifted her mug of beer-she was swaying a little from drunkenness, much to Evelyn's surprise-and said, "You know what...that is a wonderful idea. I think that's exactly with Garp-jiji would want."

"The old man never was one for moping, that's for sure...he loved to laugh," Maikino's son said with a nod, looking over at Zoro and Lukas, both of whom tilted their heads in agreement.

"Then let's have a party!" Tikka said, her clear voice cutting through the sadness of the night. She grinned, her white curls bouncing as she leapt up to her feet. "One that would do the old man proud! I think the Pirate Ball Ship is in the East Blue this time of year...I'll call Loo-bear on the den den mushi and see if I can get them here for tomorrow night...Garp-sama may have been a marine, but he was well respected even among pirates. They would love to pay homage to him."

Brook and Franky grinned widely at each other, and lifted their mugs and clashed them together noisily, "Parties are the best! To Garp!" they chorused, and Usopp started singing a pirate song as heads bobbed and smiles started spreading across faces.

The tone of the evening shifted from there, became a little lighter, but she could still feel the sadness that came off those who were especially close to the late marine. They were smiling now, but they were sad smiles. The night was winding down at this point, the energy lacking. Evelyn noticed that the conversations had shifted now, to memories of Garp and of the crazy parties they remembered having with him. Feeling unable to contribute as much, her eyes wandered, as they had all evening, back to Raion.

She'd been continuously aware of him all evening. She kept him in her peripheral vision, even without thinking about it. She felt a strange connection with him now that hadn't been there before she'd gone overboard. It was like she was more attuned with his emotions. She could see him smile, watched him making conversation, but she had the oddest feeling that inside...he was numb. And grieving. It made her heart feel heavy. More than once, she'd had to ask whomever she was speaking with to repeat themselves because she'd caught herself watching Raion.

Then he'd retreated back into the house, and her heart had gotten even tighter, as if he was hurting more and she could directly feel the result.

"You okay?" Margherita asked, and Evelyn blinked, looking back at her. The pixie girl was looking pointedly down at Evelyn's chest, and she realized, looking down at herself, that she'd been rubbing the place where her heart was. "You got heartburn or something, princess? You've done that twice now."

Evelyn blushed and moved her hands to behind her back. "I'm fine, must be the booze getting to me. I'm pretty tired...I might just go to bed early," she smiled apologetically to Margherita, whose eyes narrowed suspiciously.

Just then, she knew, in the same way she just couldn't explain, that Raion had left the house, and was heading away from them. Towards the ship. "In fact, I think I'm going to get some shut eye right now," Evelyn said hurriedly, turning around to try and catch sight of her captain.

Margherita followed her gaze but saw nothing, and shrugged with a roll of her eyes. "Yeah, alright, sure...Whatever you want. I'll probably join you soon." Her expression, which Evelyn missed, clearly read, 'you've been acting really weird today...'

"Okay...goodnight then," Evelyn told her in a distracted voice, and gave a little wave before she trudged off in the direction of the tents that the black mambas had set up. Once she was out of sight, though, she headed towards the ship. It was a longer walk in the dark, trying to maneuver over the uneven terrain, but finally she made it to the Hebi-go.

Raion was inside. In his room. More than sensing that, somehow, she could also see his light was on in his cabin. She had her hand on the doorknob to the living quarters section of the ship before she paused, a thought occurring to her. What if he wanted to be alone? Should she not disturb him?

She stood there for a solid two minutes as an internal battled waged. She wanted to go in there. Her instincts were telling her to go comfort the man who had given her the ticket to her greatest dreams.

But then...he'd escaped away from everyone, even his family, to be alone on the ship. Didn't that mean he wanted to be alone?

Just as she was about to take her hand away from the doorknob, she remembered waking up with him that morning after the storm. She remembered the warmth and security she'd felt, with him so close. What if that is what he needed? It was what she would want, if she were in his shoes...

Deciding it was worth the risk of being sent away, Eevee squared her shoulders and turned the knob.

She gave only a small knock on the captain's quarters door before she opened it, slowly peeking into the room. "Raion...?" she called quietly. "Can I...Can I come in?" she asked, spotting him on the bed. He was staring at the ceiling listlessly.

He was contemplating whether or not he should get out of bed if he wasn't gonna sleep and do something, like make maps or music, or if he even had the motivation to do anything at all, when there was a quiet knock on his door. Raion lifted his head to see Eevee peeking her head in, her voice seeking his permission to come in. She looked so cute, peering around the door.

"Ya," he answered, dropping his head back down on the mattress. He made some sort of vague gesture with his hand for her to come in. He heard the door shut with a soft click behind her.

With a sigh, he sat up and planted his feet on the floor, perched on the edge of his bed. He rubbed his face with his hands, grinding the heels of his hands into his eyes before he propped his chin in them and looked at her. She was wearing her super pirate outfit again today, with the boots and the pants and the corset thing on the outside. It was probably one of his favorites, for obvious reasons.

"Come 'ere," he said, making a come-closer motion with his hands and once she was within arm's reach, he grabbed her around her thighs and pulled her close and down, so that she was straddling his lap. He draped his arms around her hips, "How'd you like meeting all the Straw Hats today?" he asked, smiling a little, "Live up to your expectations?"

He'd thought he wanted to be alone and that was why he'd retreated to the ship, to get away from everyone and all the grief and all the tears and all the heartbreak. But having her here was better; he'd even hedged to say it was exactly what he needed. Being alone left him with just his thoughts which weren't, well, they were an unfortunate by-product of death. Having her here, so beautiful and breathing and alive, was assuring. He might not be strong enough to battle the demons of grief and protect his family from them, but Eevee, without even speaking a word yet, made him feel like that was okay. What he was, it was enough.

Coming to his room, Eevee hadn't been sure what to expect, but she was pleasantly surprised by the outcome. She'd barely gotten close to him when he pulled her towards him, urging her down until she was straddling his lap. Her hands went to his shoulders to steady herself from the sudden motion, and she could feel his thick muscles shifting below his skin as he moved his arms to drape them over her hips. A little thrill went through her, one that she squashed instantly given that he'd just been through a traumatic day.

"I think my expectations went right out the window, to be honest," she told him, her voice quiet. The mood of the room seemed just as subdued as the feast had been outside, and it felt as if speaking too loudly would shatter something.

Her eyes skimmed over his features, noting the shadows under his eyes. She wanted to say something, anything, about what he'd just been through, but broaching that subject before him felt just as much like it would shatter the room as speaking too loudly did. Instead, she said, "They are nothing at all like I expected...they are silly and crazy...They make me laugh. I can feel, somehow, that they are really powerful, but at the same time...They seem so _normal_. Well, maybe normal isn't the right word...they seem so carefree for people who are supposed to be the most powerful in the world. Their silliness, when you know how much power they actually have, makes it difficult to take your eyes off them. Like...you just want to keep studying them to figure out how such powerful people can be so quick to goof off. Fascinating, really."

She grinned at him, unable to hide the excitement that still bubbled inside her at having met her childhood heroes. Her fingers laced together behind his neck and she shrugged, blushing a little as she thought about what she'd just said, "That must sound pretty odd, doesn't it?"

He couldn't help it. A small chuckle escaped him, "It doesn't sound odd at all," he assured her, "In fact, it sounds just about right." His family were a bunch of odd ducks, he could see that now, as an adult, but when he was a kid, it was just cool and normal.

"To be honest with you, I've never even seen the extent of my family's strength," he confessed, twisting her long auburn hair in his hands, "I was at the Impel Down invasion a couple of years ago, but that was nothing compared to the stories I've heard. The coolest thing I saw there was Dad knocking out a shit ton of marines with his Haki when my mother was overwhelmed and overrun," he shrugged, "But, such is the power of the Pirate King's nakama that even the Fleet Admiral leaves them alone, if that tells you anything."

In fact, when he was growing up, he never even saw the Marines, not anywhere near his home, anyway. Sometimes a ship would show up to see Garp-Ji-Ji when he and Sabo were there during the summers. His first real fight with them had been at the prison. No one wanted to seek out Straw Hat Luffy and threaten his home.

"You'll see Luffy tomorrow," he said, "Mom will tell him we're having a party and he'll flip around 180. You haven't met the captain of 'odd' yet."

Raion laid his cheek against her arm and closed his eyes. She smelled like herbs and campfire and her fancy shampoo. They were close enough that he could feel her body heat, but not so close that they were touching. If he wasn't so exhausted, it probably would have surprised him that he was so close to a woman without actively thinking about sex. It was like, even his extra energy tap for nookie was dried up.

"I'm so tired," he muttered softly, "But I can't sleep," he opened his gray eyes to glance at her before closing them again. He felt like his eyeballs were burning.

Eevee smiled gently at him, her eyes soft. This was a side of Raion she'd never known before. He was quiet, gentle, and with his eyes closed and his cheek resting against her arm, he looked sweet. It was nothing like the wicked grins and temper mental attitude she was used to with him.

Gazing at him like she was, feeling the warmth of his body under hers and listening to the quiet sound of his breath, she felt her heart twist. It was both a heady, exciting feeling, and also one that filled her with a sense of discomfort. She was falling for him, badly. In the beginning, she'd been attracted to his amazing physique and strong personality, coupled with a sense of gratitude for giving her the gift of pursuing her longtime dream. Now it was starting to feel like something entirely different. It wasn't about the freedom of being a pirate and being allowed to fool around with men; now it was about fooling around with _this_ man. And only this man.

She let out a soft breath, deciding that now wasn't the time for such burdensome thoughts. She could figure out her feelings-and the consequences of them-when she wasn't with Raion, especially since he was hurting. While she doubted he would ever admit it...he needed her right now. He needed something that didn't remind him of his family, to distract him.

"Can't sleep?" she repeated his last words, her voice barely higher than a whisper. "That's no good when your tired." Her voice held a somewhat teasing edge to it, hoping to lighten the atmosphere a little. While Eevee was very inexperienced with men, she did know one thing; a sure way to distract them as well as get them to sleep soundly afterwards meant something sexual. Her cheeks pinked at the thought, but she'd come here wanting to help him. She couldn't chicken out now because she was inexperienced. She was through with being a coward, after all...

Eevee scooted up his lap until their torsos were practically touching, her breasts brushing against his chest. Simultaneously, she let her arms slide along his shoulders until her face was a mere inch from his. "Maybe I can help you sleep..." she murmured quietly, her eyes flickering over his features a moment before she closed them, and pressed her lips against his.

It was a gentle kiss, one that, if he wanted, could remain just a kiss; but her body said that he could have more, if he wanted. Much more.

He sure as shit wasn't expecting her to kiss him.

But a little part of him knew she was gonna, by the way of her light teasing tone and the way she shifted her body closer to his so that her breasts brushed against his chest. He just hadn't thought she actually would.

Oh, it was nice. Her mouth was feather-soft against his, his head tipped back just a little. She moved against him, like she was flexing her body against his, completely at odds with her mouth and he felt heat build deep in his stomach. It was different than the usual heat between them; this settled like a hot stone in his gut, heavy and warm rather than racing through his bloodstream like fire.

His fingers dug into her back, like he could grip the tight leather corset in his hands and reciprocated her kiss, just as gently but a little more deeply, his tongue sweeping into her mouth to taste her.

Then, he pulled back, his breathing a little unsteady, and his fingers plucked the ties on the front of her corset. He didn't say a word, his movements sure and lithe, yet unhurried as he unlaced the straps. He didn't analyze it or overthink it; he just wanted her close. He wanted to be close, he wanted to be skin-to-skin, he wanted to be so lost in her that nothing else mattered and he stopped thinking about...everything. Thought about nothing but her. He wanted her to be his therapy.

Raion tugged at the last lace and carefully peeled the leather away from her body. It dropped to the floor with a heavy sound and he bunched the material of her shirt up so that his hands were caressing over her skin and up her spine. He pressed his mouth against her neck and collarbone along the line where her shirt fell over her shoulder.

His reaction was like the slow blooming of a flower; slow at first, with his fingers digging into her back and holding her closely, then escalated as his kiss deepened and his hands tugged insistently at the corset that bound her.

When he pulled away, to work on the laces of her corset, Eevee gazed down at him with heavy-lidded eyes. Her breathing matched his own, unsteady and quickened. Her heart beat faster, warmth unfurled inside of her belly. But somehow, this was all very different from the way it had been before. Before, their encounters had been hot and heady and dizzying. Tonight...it was a slow kindling, a heavier heat that was building between them. She didn't know where tonight was going to take them, and she didn't care. She wasn't thinking about it.

All she was thinking about was him, and how wonderful his skin felt under her fingertips, and how she loved the way he tasted.

His lips found her neck and collarbone, and her eyes fluttered shut. She tilted her head back to give him better access, and one of her hands curled into the hair at the nape of his neck, holding him to her. Her other hand slithered down his chest, down to the hem of his shirt, and she tugged upwards, eager to have his skin exposed. She would taste it tonight, like she'd often wanted to but had been too uncertain to try.

He felt like he was burning in a slow smolder, her hand in his hair, tugging gently, her body under his hands. He let her peel his tee shirt off over his head and it joined her corset on the floor. He didn't care what was happening; like his brain was purposefully not thinking too many steps ahead and he was just riding out his emotions. He had no plan, no goal except he didn't want to stop touching her and she couldn't stop touching him.

Her shirt was next, off over her head and he let it slip from his fingers. Her long hair fell in a thick, straight curtain down her back and he crushed the strands in his fist as he arched her over backwards a little bit. He dropped his mouth to her breast, swirling his tongue over the peak. His free hand cupped her other breast, his thumb teasing her nipple.

She was so soft under his rough hands and delicate. She had a narrow rib cage, narrow, tucked in waist with a flare at her hips. He was a few inches shy of wrapping his hands fully around her waist. He loved it, how dainty she felt, even though she wasn't as breakable as she looked. It made him feel strong.

"Stand up for me," he instructed quietly, coercing her off his lap. When her feet were planted on the floor, he pulled her in closer, between his knees. His face was level with her rib cage and he pressed his mouth against her skin as his fingers worked the fastening of her pants until he could tug the leather down. He hooked her panties off with the pants, though her boots prevented them from coming off completely, it was enough. He slipped his hand between her thighs and over her sex and his heart skipped a beat and his blood pressure spiked to feel how wet she was.

A smile tugged at the edges of her lips when he took her kiss...and deepened it. Her fingers eagerly sought out his bare chest, and she offered no resistance when he tugged her own shirt up and over her head. Unlike the other times she'd been exposed to him, she didn't feel any inclination to cover herself or be bashful this time. Her eyes were steady, soft, and warm as she watched him, ready for anything he wanted to do to her.

His lips and tongue found her breast, and Eevee's eyes slide shut and a breath stuttered from her mouth at the sensation. One of her hands found his hair again, and gripped the dark strands to hold his head to her breast. When his thumb brushed over her other nipple, she shivered, heat instantly pooling in her abdomen. He was stroking a slow burn in her body, and she didn't want anything to stop it.

He stood her up and began removing her leather pants, and Eevee wiggled her hips and helped him, watching the way his eyes devoured the sight of her ever-increasing bare skin. Watching him watch her was far more heady than she ever thought it would be, and her arousal jacked up another notch, the pace of her breathing increasing. He didn't even wait for her boots to come off before he slipped his hand between her thighs, and stroked her wet heat with his fingertips.

Eevee gasped, her violet eyes darkening to a mauve and her legs becoming weak as pleasure shot up through her body. Her hands sought his shoulders, her fingers digging into the skin and muscles there. "Raion..." she murmured huskily, the sound an entreaty...for more.

Feeling constrained by her pants around her knees and her boots, Eevee forced herself to back away from him, just enough to remove the offending garments. Then, nude to him, she dug deep for her courage, and returned to the position between his legs. Her fingers found his shoulders again, but instead of gripping them, she pushed them, urging him back onto the bed. She followed, crawling up until she was straddling his hips. Her eyes were locked on his chest, watching the muscles of his abs and pecs contract as he laid down.

"I've...wanted to taste you...for a long time now," she confessed somewhat bashfully, and her eyes flickered up to his. Her cheeks were pink, but her eyes were warm and gentle, tinged with a little excitement. Not waiting for permission, Eevee lowered her head and let her lips rest on the dip between his pecs. She stayed that way for a second, taking a deep, slow breath and filling her lungs with his scent. Then, tentatively, her tongue flickered out, tasting his skin.

It was salty and warm and delicious. She liked the way his skin felt, under her tongue. Curious, her eyes slid over to his flat nipple, and her teeth worried her lip for a moment before she moved her head over, and repeated the gesture with his nipple, kissing and then tasting the darker flesh.

His eyes darkened to the color of thunderclouds when she backed away from his hand and stripped out of her boots and pants, leaving her gloriously naked. She was exquisite; it felt like he couldn't breathe when he got to see her naked. The just the right hourglass shape with long, slender legs that were both soft as sin and firm from her years of dancing. And all that thick auburn hair that brushed her tailbone when it was down.

He was so deep inside her psyche, his Haki working external to his consciousness that he felt her slight hesitation before she stepped back into him and pushed his shoulders back so that he was lying on the bed. His breathing stuttered as his heart skipped right down into his stomach. She straddled his hips and he made a noise in the back of his throat that was somewhere between an aching need and a growl. He was so wrapped up in her he didn't think he could tell the difference between where she ended and he began.

Her mouth on his skin caused his nerves to riot. Anything involving her mouth was fine by him. Her mouth and her eyes were his undoing, always. She could lay him out flat with just a look; a slight widening of her eyes, the way she chewed her lip when she was nervous. Add that to the fact that all she had to do was walk by him and she put a rhythm in his head and he was surprised he stood up daily.

"Lower..." he insisted, his voice rough around the edges with arousal. He threaded his fingers through her hair, holding onto her, onto something, "Lower, Eevee... I want..." he didn't know how to phrase it delicately. He wanted his shorts off and that wicked little mouth of hers on parts of his anatomy that tightened in response to just the idea, "Please..." he begged in a tight whisper.

Her confusion made her pause for a moment, trying to understand what he meant. But she was straddling him, and when he begged for her to move lower, even through his shorts, she could feel his hard length twitching insistently.

Heat flooded her face and she stopped what she was doing, frozen with embarrassment at the very thought of doing to him what he had done to her not so long ago. Her fingers curled into the flesh of his chest, where she was bracing herself, and her breath stuttered out of her lungs. She couldn't lift her her face or even her eyes for him to see as she struggled with the morality bonds her noble birth had forced on her.

But then...he had done it to her, an act considered just as lewd as what he was asking _her_ to do to him. And she'd liked it. No...she'd _loved_ it.

The image of his tortured face when she'd stroked him into an orgasm flashed in her mind. Her embarrassment was almost instantly chased away by a fresh wave of hot arousal flushing through her system. She wanted to see that again...

Eevee took a breath and mentally shook herself, reminding herself once again that she was a pirate now. She could do anything she wanted, even _lewd_ acts in bed. This renewed sense of freedom helped her shed the last of her reservations, and she lifted her head to peek at him from under the long tresses of her hair.

She didn't say anything, she just gave a little nod of her head. Then she scooted down his legs until she could kneel between them. Her fingers moved quickly at unfastening his shorts, and with his help, she was able to rid him completely of the clothing. Then...he was as naked as she was.

Just as before, the sheer size of him shocked her, and her eyes widened at the sight of his erect penis. For a moment, she just stared at it, nestled and kneeling between his legs, her hands on his hips. Then, she wrapped her fingers around the base of him. She remembered the way he'd gripped her hand, the last time, and forced her to squeeze harder, so this time, she gripped him tighter. Slowly, she pumped her fist up and down, once.

Like before, a bead of liquid welled up at the tip. Her eyes latched onto it, and she nibbled her lower lip in hesitation. She didn't know what she was doing or if there was any kind of technique...but she was willing to try. If it brought him as much pleasure as his mouth had brought to her, then she wanted to give that to him.

Tucking her hair behind one ear with her free hand, Eevee leaned forward...and licked the tip of his erection, tasting the salty-sweetness of his pre-cum. A shiver raced up and down her spine at the taste, and at the way his shaft jerked in her hand. Slowly, she smiled, enjoying the physical reaction she'd wrought from his body. Wanting more of it, she parted her lips and drew him deeper into her mouth, her tongue sliding and caressing his erection.

She paused and he felt his whole body flush in response to her embarrassment. He was asking a lot, he knew that. But... he wanted it. God, he wanted it. He stopped breathing while he waited for her to make her decision. And when she flickered those wide eyes up at him and gave a little curt nod of her head, his breathing came back in a stuttered gasp of anticipation.

"That's right..." he encouraged her, helping her with the buttons on his shorts and yanking them off until he was naked as she was. Skin to skin.

Her expression was still just as priceless as it had been the last time. He chuckled softly as she blinked at him with innocence painted over her face, like his body was a foreign specimen that she had no idea what to make of. But that chuckle slipped right into a groan as she handled his aching erection with far more finesse than she had the last time and he dropped his head back down to the mattress.

"That's good... just... whatever..." he dared to lift his head back up a little and nearly expired as she touched her tongue, "I... just..."

Then it was like her insecurity did a one-eighty and she sucked him into her mouth. He cursed under his breath, his fingers threading through her hair for something to hold on to. He'd been expecting it... but he hadn't been expecting it either. It was a little slice of hot heaven.

"Eevee..." he whispered raggedly, then gasped when he felt the sting of her teeth, "Easy with the teeth, princess..."

He pulled his fingers through her hair, crushing the silken strands in his fists, pushing it back from her face, watching her. It felt like electricity was pulsing up and down his spine and he knew he'd come like this, but he didn't want to. He'd freaked her out already.

"Get up," he sat up and pushed her head back, "Kiss me." he grabbed her face and slashed his mouth over hers, tugging at her bottom lip with his teeth and sweeping his tongue in side her mouth. He rolled them around, switching places so that she was down against the bed, his body over hers. Everything was hot and colors, lacking straight, concise thoughts. He was riding on the wave of an emotional high that he didn't understand, half of it hers, half of it his and indistinguishable from one another.

His hand was back between her thighs and he didn't stop kissing her as he stroked her heat. He slipped one finger inside her. She would come for him because he needed her to.

Their slow-building heat was turning in to a smoldering demand, and she could see it written all over his tight features as he flipped them over. Having his completely naked body over her own was a new sensation, and her stomach tightened in an unknown anticipation. It was as if her body knew something was about to happen, something very good.

His lips were back on hers, and she closed her eyes, losing herself in his taste. She kissed him back, a hungry mashing of lips and tongue as her body undulated beneath him, antsy, eager. When she felt his hand between her thighs, she instinctively widened her legs, eagerly offering her heat to him. His touch pulled a moan from her, and her back arched and her hips rolled, begging for more.

She had never been more aroused in her life. She felt...frantic. She wanted something from him she couldn't name. She wanted even _more_ than what he'd given her last time.

Her fingers found purchase on his shoulders and in his hair, digging her fingernails in and holding him down against her as she pressed her breasts up against his chest, eager for any skin-on-skin contact between them. With his finger insider her and his hand grinding against her heat, every little bit of touching between them felt electrified.

It was all too much.

Like an avalanche speeding down a mountain, it was impossible to stop the climax that suddenly raced down her spin and exploded between her legs. She cried out, her lips torn away from his as her head was thrown back and her hips jerked and spasmed. Her legs clamped together around his hand, an uncontrolled action that only increased the friction and depth of his penetration.

When the orgasm finally released her from its thrall, Eevee relaxed beneath him, her thighs loosening their death grip on his hand. Breathing raggedly, she opened her eyes and gazed up at him, lids heavy and cheeks red from exertion. Her fingers relaxed on his shoulder and in his hair, and to her surprise she saw red crescents were her nails had dug into the skin of his shoulder.

She came hard underneath him, tearing her mouth away from his and arching her back up. Everything inside him came alive in response, every muscle, every nerve ending, the entire world narrowing down to colors and sensations and the musical cadence of her voice and body. She yanked his hair, dug her fingernails into his skin and his eyes nearly rolled back into his head. It was like their slow burn had built into an inferno right before their eyes without even realizing it. And it was consuming them and no force on earth could stop it.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Raion registered that he'd never felt like this with anyone else ever before. That only she made him feel like he'd swallowed electricity and the hum could comfort him. He liked women, enjoyed flirting and messing around, but all that in the past seemed like cheap thrills when compared to Eevee. He wanted everything she could give him and more and a very tiny part of him was stirring awake and knowing he was ruined for life because of her.

But these weren't conscious thoughts, they weren't even thoughts he could mold into feelings or inklings. They were there, but they were dim and all he knew right now was that he wanted to crawl inside the firestorm she was and hide away from the emotional turmoil that was his day. Because she was warm and she was safe.

He kissed her face and rubbed his nose against hers as he hooked a hand behind one of her knees. Their hips were perfectly aligned now so that he could slide the head of his cock against her wet heat, "Don't let go of me," he ordered, but the roughness of his voice was softened around the edges by a subtle plea. He trailed his mouth along her jaw and down to her neck to swirl his tongue over her pulse. With his hips he created a sensual rhythm that slowly worked his shaft inside her, stretching her, inch by devastatingly slow inch.

Eevee's eyes widened and her heart stammered in her chest when she realized what he intended to do. Her body lit up with arousal and excitement, while her mind clamored with sudden nerves. The two opposing reactions, body and mind, clashed together in a tempest of emotions. Her breath hitched in the back of her throat and she tensed. She released his hair and gripped both of his shoulders with both of her hands.

"R-Raion..." she began nervously, but he was already moving, and the thick crown of his shaft slid along her slick heat. Somehow, it was massively different than feeling his fingers against her core. It felt hotter, bigger...entirely different. She was far more _aware_ of his penis than she was of his fingers. Her whole being was suddenly focused on the connection between them, hyper-aware as if she could feel each cell of his touching each cell of hers.

As he pushed his way inside, her body stretched. She tensed even more, her head kicking back a little and her eyes squeezing shut. It was the oddest feeling, a mixture of pleasure and pain. He was _too big!_

But she was a doctor, she knew the human body was capable of amazing things. If women could push a baby out from between their legs, then his shaft should be no problem. What did she tell women who were giving birth?

To relax.

Eevee's fingers dug into his shoulders as she pulled in a steadying breath, then forced her muscles to relax. It was very difficult, because every little bit he pushed inside and stretched her more, the slight pain made her want to tense up. But the more she told herself to relax...the less it hurt. And the more it felt good.

"S-s-slow p-please..." she whispered, a pleading note in her voice. Her tone betrayed how nervous she actually was, but her body spoke of how aroused she continued to be. With another breath, her legs fell open wider for him, and her internal muscles relaxed a tiny bit more, allowing him to move even deeper inside her tight core.

She gasped and gripped his shoulders hard, her fingernails cutting into his skin. And she begged him to slow down. Her whole body was tight with nerves, tight under his hands, tight around his cock.

"Shh, baby, I got you," he assured her, turning her face and kissing her mouth. It was killing him with this slow pace. Slow and easy wasn't really his motif. He wasn't brutal, but he wasn't one to prolong anything either. Yet she was so tense, so tight, so virgin that he couldn't. He'd hurt her and he didn't really wanna scare her away from this whole endeavor.

Besides, at this moment right now, he had the patience for slow and easy even if it was rioting harsh sensation through his spine to do it that way. He wasn't in the mood for rough and aggressive. He just wanted to be close to her and if getting there took its time, well, then that was alright.

His lips never ceased moving over her skin, going along her jaw, down to her neck, across her collarbone then back up to kissing her. All the while, his hips continued to push into her, pausing every couple of times to give her a second to breathe, a second to relax.

Then, with just a little bit left, he thrust hard, forcing her body to yield to the rest of him and he groaned. He stopped moving and dropped his forehead against hers.

"You okay so far?" he asked breathlessly. He rubbed his nose against hers gently.

It took Eevee a moment to answer, because his final thrust had been more painful than the rest, and she trembled slightly as she fought to relax her muscles. He held himself still, and she was grateful, drawing in a deep breath and letting it out slowly.

"Yes...I'm okay," she answered in a whisper. He was rubbing his nose against hers, and the gesture tugged on her heart, filling her up with a different sort of warmth. That warmth helped her relax, helped her adjust to his size filling her. It was such an alien feeling, to have him so deep inside her. He felt so big, and she felt so tight, that she couldn't imagine them moving at all. It was impossible to describe the feeling...

Slowly, though, the discomfort went away as her body adjusted. She opened her eyes and looked up at him, seeing the tension written all over his features. It was difficult for him, she realized, to stay so still inside of her. She could practically sense his need to move, to create more friction between them.

Her teeth worried her bottom lip, and Eevee shifted her hips, essentially wiggling beneath him to see how it felt. It was odd...but good. A half-smile tugged at her lips, and she did it again, drawing her hips back and replacing them, letting him slide in and out and very tiny bit. Yes...that time, there was definitely pleasure in the act. A little gasp escaped her lips, as if surprised by the sensation, and her eyes flickered up to his, wonder replacing the hesitation in them.

"You can move now..." she told him with a blush, and lifted her head to press her lips against his.

He half-chuckled when she shifted her hips experimentally against his and those violet eyes of hers widened and darkened to an almost blue hue. He let her, tapping into some of his reserve of self-control - which he didn't typically do. Self-control was overrated - to not just start right into it. He knew he could rock her world; it was beyond arrogance and simple fact. And he would, so there was no harm in letting her set the pace.

It just felt really, _really_ good to be inside her and he really didn't want to wait anymore.

"Oh, I plan to move quite a - " he started, but she interrupted him by pressing her lips to his. He smirked against her mouth and kissed her back with a little more fervor, one hand threading through her hair behind her ear, his weight braced on his forearms. It brought them close, so close, her breasts pressed against his chest, every single part of them touching from hip to shoulder.

And he started to move, slow at first, small movements as her body fought his a little, tensing up and it was painful pleasure. But after a few moments, she relaxed and the thrusts became deeper, longer and it was impossible to tell where her pleasure ended and his began and vice versa. Every ripple up his spine and he crawled further into her emotional haven and the world narrowed down to his bedroom and the bed and her and him and their panting breaths and racing hearts and spirals of pleasure. She was warm and he was content and she seemed to fill the very air around him and get inside him and he didn't know it yet, but she was a physical necessity.

He pulled his mouth away from her skin, his breath fast and shifted carefully until he was on his knees and her hips with in his hands. She was spread out in front of him like a virginal sacrifice, all that auburn hair fanning out across the pillows, her face flushed, lips pouted from kissing and eyes dark and wide. The image burned into his mind and he knew he'd never forget it.

He took his eyes off her for a moment and sucked his thumb into his mouth. With a quick glance at her, his hair falling into his darkened eyes, he rubbed his thumb over the top of her sex as he continued his previous pace with his hips.

When he moved, it was tight, just as she expected. But the more he moved, the more it felt good, and the more her body relaxed around him. He shifted closer, and more of their skin was touching, enhancing the pleasures and sensations that were starting to build inside of her. She could tell the moment her body had adjusted to his size because the slight discomfort evaporated, and was replaced by a molten pleasure that went up a notch with each thrust of his hips.

Eevee was panting, and her heart was pounding wildly in her chest. When he lifted himself up above her and repositioned herself, her eyes widened and a soft gasp escaped her lips from the increased tightness it created. Her fingers released his shoulders and clung to the bedsheets instead.

The sight of him, breathing raggedly, a fine sheen of sweat over his heavily muscled body, with his dark hair falling into his darkened eyes, made her heart stutter in his chest. He was so damned sexy that it floor her, especially seeing him _inside_ of her, his strong hands gripping her hips. Her heat tightened around him in response as her arousal jacked up another notch and pleasure flooded her veins.

What he did next, though, she was unprepared for. He licked his thumb, and cast her such a wicked look that she forgot to breath for a second, then began to rub his thumb over the top of her sex.

Her hips jerked and she gasped as her pleasure shot up to the clouds. "Oh...Oh my..." she said breathlessly, her fingers tightening so hard in the sheets that her knuckles turned white. "That...that feels...amazing..." she moaned the words, and, unbidden, her hips started gyrating eagerly against his thrusts, urging him deeper.

From his position, he could see everything and the view was incredible. He had one hand under her hips, the other stroking her flesh and his shaft sliding in and out of her sex. Then there was the dip in her stomach, the outline of her narrow ribcage, the swells of her breasts and then her face. Her lovely, sexed face, with her lips parted as her breath came quick, occasionally biting her lower lip and when she did that, all he wanted to do was pull it out from her teeth and bite it for her.

And those _eyes_ , able to stop a man in his tracks with a single look.

She did it to him often, even if she didn't know it.

She moaned and wriggled her hips against his, gripping the sheet with her hands and his breath stuttered in his lungs as the action forced him deeper inside her. _Fuck_ , he was gonna come.

He turned his eyes back to what he was doing with his hands, circling his thumb over her, thrusting into her body. His breathing elevated as the muscles in his shoulders flexed and tensed in intervals.

"Eevee..." he ground out, "Baby, come for me…"

His eyes were dilating, his shoulders tensing. She knew, without really knowing how she knew, that he was very close to an orgasm. Her breath hitched in her throat, reacting viscerally to his ground out words as her abdomen clenched and even more heat flashed through her bloodstream. Even if he hadn't asked, though, she was already very close. With each pant, an urgent noise, somewhere between a moan and a gasp, came from her throat.

"R-rai-" she tried to say his name, but the climax, as it crashed over her, was so strong the word was strangled from her voice, flatlining in a cry of pleasure. Her back arched, her hips and legs flexed, and her hands bunched in the sheets as she came apart beneath him, an orgasm stronger than anything she'd ever felt. The pleasure bordered on pain, it was so intense.

Her heat clenched around him tightly, spasming and milking him, the tight feeling ratcheting her pleasure up even more, in a way far more powerful than it had been with his fingers inside of her. The pleasure came in great heaving waves that made her body shudder and her breath come short in her lungs, and it seemed to go on and on.

When, finally, the pleasure ebbed, she went completely limp, her body completely exhausted by the power of what she'd just experienced. Her breasts quivered from her rapid breaths and her eyes were dazed as she gazed, unseeing, up at the ceiling, trying to regain her senses.

He tried so hard to watch her come. He wanted to watch it happen, let it wash over him and elevate him to orgasm, but he was so strung out that that didn't exactly go to plan. Her breath hitched around his name as she tried not once, but twice to say it and when that first spasm ripped through her body and her head thrashed against the pillows and her back arched, he was done.

He grabbed her hips with both his hands and thrust once, twice and as she crested into orgasm, so did he and it was so perfectly in sync and her pleasure was his and he didn't think he could ever do it again like that if he tried. Colors burst and her voice mingled with his as he attempted some cursed rendition of her name. His fingers dug into her flesh as the last hour of molten heat boiled to a head and he came hard. And he continued to rock into her body until she came down and it started to feel too good that it hurt and he was sated.

Raion dropped his body back down over hers, his lungs working double time and he pressed his face and mouth against her neck. He felt her breathing in time with him, her skin hot against his, her pulse rapid under his mouth. He began to come down, his arousal ebbing. And that's when it started.

He started to shake. Tremble, actually. His whole body. Deep in his bones, in his muscles, not like chattering from cold, but like a twitch in his nerves as they went haywire. He'd been riding the emotional roller coaster for too long today, starting with being on the ship this morning with his trusted co-captain, to dealing with his family, to being with Garp in his final moments, holding it together for his father then hot, slow-burning, highly attuned sex with Eevee to top it off. It was as if he'd been too strong for too long and his mind was giving him a big 'fuck you, man, I'm done' and jumped ship on him.

It was too much for one day and he was shot, exhausted, and strung out. He had too many feelings and no way to cope with them except just crawl in Eevee because she was a safety net to catch him. He didn't even think about why or how or when. He just... needed and she was here to fill his need and he wanted that.

Evelyn was trying to catch her breath when Raion started shaking. It was so unexpected that she didn't understand what was happening at first. She turned her head, pressing her cheek against his head, buried against her neck, and realized that his whole body was trembling. Her heart stopped in her chest, and her breath ceased in her lungs, as if her whole body wanted to be quiet to ascertain if it was truly happening.

It was.

When her heart started back up, it was with a stutter as her chest constricted with realization. After everything today, the grief, him being strong for his family, and is his orgasm had been anything like her own...he must be strung out.

"Raion..." she murmured quietly, barely a whisper of a sound, and her arms encircled him, holding him close to her chest. Both of them were hot and sweaty from what they'd just done together, but the feel of his skin against hers was rewarding, comfortable.

She nuzzled his hair with her nose, breathing in the scent of him, and her hands began to rub his back in slow, comforting circles, hoping to calm his quivering. He was still inside of her, and with each minute movement he made, she felt her heat clenching from the after-quakes of her orgasm, reminding her each time of how intimate their embrace was.

"You should sleep..." she told him in a soft voice, her lips moving against his hair.

Her arms came around him and he felt her little hands rub up and down his spine and it was oddly comforting. People didn't _comfort_ him; it wasn't required much in his profession. In fact, he was certain the last time it happened was when he was a child and even, it had been rare.

He didn't say anything about it, just quietly accepted her gesture for what it was. He didn't mind her touching him anyways.

After a few minutes, she mentioned sleep and he considered it for a moment. Ya, he should try to sleep. He was utterly exhausted and sleep would definitely come easier to him now that he'd just had a romp. A really fucking great romp. Fantastic romp.

Raion shifted his hips, pulling out of her body - a little unwillingly - and rolled off her. Majority of the time, he was a stomach-sleeper and that's how he settled down right next to her, on his stomach with one arm tucked under his pillow. He reached out with his other hand and tapped under her chin gently. He realized in a rush that he did that to her often... he didn't know why. He'd done it when they were children and she'd constantly drop her jaw at all the "amazing things" she saw and he'd tease her and tap her chin to close her mouth. And it just... stuck. Even if she wasn't in awe.

"You okay?" he asked, his voice a rough mumble. How ironic, he was laying here, shaking like a child and he was the one asking her if she was alright. Whatever. He was so tired.

When he rolled off of her, Eevee felt the cold rush over her in his place, and she shivered, feeling bereft and empty without him inside her after such an amazing experience. She turned her head to watch him as he settled on his stomach next to her, smiling a little. He looked almost child-like, with his arm under his pillow, and the sight made her heart melt even more.

His question gave her pause, because she'd been about to ask him the same question, but then, she knew he wasn't okay. His great-grandfather had died today, and asking him if he was okay would be a silly question. As for her...It hit her, then, that she was no longer a virgin. It was a huge thing, to a noble, to lose one's virginity without being married. For a second she couldn't answer, so struck by the enormity of what she'd done.

But then...she wasn't a noble anymore. She was a pirate. Her virginity was hers to give away as she pleased. And it had been incredible...so really, she had nothing to complain about.

Gingerly, she sat up, feeling a little stiff now that her adrenaline was draining away. She ached between her legs, and as she glanced down, she saw blood on the sheets. Her maidenhead had been breached. Being a doctor, she knew this was normal, and the sight didn't particularly concern her. "I'm fine...I got blood on your sheets though..." she commented quietly, and it sounded strange, given the circumstances and their current situation. She said it so calmly, when, in the past, she probably would have been a bit more hysterical about the whole affair. It gave her self-proof that she had come a long way since she'd joined his crew.

She might have been a bit more self-conscious, being naked with blood on her thighs, if she wasn't more concerned with him. He was still shaking, and he looked a little pale to her. She was sure he was fine, physically speaking, just sleep-deprived and emotionally wrought. He definitely needed sleep to recover from such a draining day.

Her eyes flickered to the end of the bed, and she spotted a thicker blanket folded there. Leaning down, she snagged it with one hand and drew it up until it was covering him. "Don't worry about me, just worry about sleeping for right now," she told him, a little bit of her doctor voice coming out, but significantly softened. Her eyes, too, were gentle as she gazed down at him.

Eevee looked over to where her clothes were littering the floor, and felt a little part of her grow sad. In her younger years, she'd always envisioned her first time, vaguely of course, as a beautifully romantic moment where she'd fall asleep in her husbands arms. She wouldn't get anything like that, as a pirate. She'd never trade the mind-blowing reality she'd just experienced for the romantic dream of her youth, but it was still a little down-letting, to know she was about to walk back to a cold tent in the dark.

Drawing in a breath, she moved to get off the bed, "Sleep well, Raion..." she murmured to him.

She was talking and he was nodding, finding less and less energy to reply back to her verbally.

"S'ok," he did reply about the blood on the sheets, his eyes closed, "It happens. So long as you're okay, then okay..." he knew that occasionally, virgins bled the first time having sex. The more virgin, the more likely there would be blood, so it didn't surprise him whatsoever. Blood tended to be a side effect of sex with him anyway; he liked it a bit rough, though he didn't say as much. This... hadn't been rough sex.

His thoughts became thicker and his mind wandered a little and he was dimly aware that this had been weird sex. Not the sex itself, per say, but sex with him. He had a tendency of being very... physical... about the deed. He liked women, but what he liked best wasn't necessarily the 'getting off' part, though that was definitely a swell release. He liked to flirt, to tease and manipulate and he really liked getting what he wanted. The actual sex was usually more or less wham, bam, thank you ma'am. It was hands-on, it was aggressive, it was done in an hour or two, it was sex. He always wore a condom, he always paid for their room, he never slept over and he never saw them again. And he never, never brought them back to the ship.

What he and Eevee had just done was the complete polar opposite of that. And it was weird. He didn't think about why it was weird because he was too tired to go there, he just knew it was odd and not his normal game play.

She pulled the sheet up over his body to his hips and he smirked a little, hearing her firm clinical voice come out of her. It always did when she was giving directions. Then, he felt her shift like she was going to leave the bed and she said goodnight or something and he didn't know where the impulse came from, but he shot his hand out and laid it on her leg.

He paused for a moment as his brain woke up and was all "dude... what?" but he shut it down pretty quickly.

"Stay here..." he rumbled, eyes closed still. He curled his fingers like he could pull her back towards him, "Tee shirts; top drawer if you want one."

Eevee was startled by his request, and stared at him, motionless, for a full minute before it fully sank in. He was asking her to stay with him, in his bed. For the night. To sleep...together.

They had already slept together once, but somehow that felt different. She'd been close to hypothermia and the act had been more out of necessity, to get her warm, than anything else. This was far more intimate, especially considering what they'd just done together. Thinking about it again made her cheeks heat from the vivid memory that seemed burned into her mind.

She looked at him, at his closed eyes, mussed hair, and the bare expanse of his back. She could tell he was already very close to sleeping, and his demeanor was almost childlike in that state of relaxation. She wanted to reach other and brush his hair away from his face, but she refrained. Her eyes flickered down to his hand on her thigh, and warmth bloomed in her chest at the chest, at the way his fingers were curled around her thigh.

"Alright...I'll stay," she told him with a smile, and gently removed his hand from her thigh and went over to his dresser. She found a black t-shirt inside-it was pretty much the only color she found in there-and slipped it over her head. It was much bigger than her, and fell past her hips and hung like dress on her.

Returning to the bed, Eevee lifted the blanket and slid under it next to him. It felt a little odd, to be settling in to a bed with another person, but at the same time it was also thrilling, something she'd dreamed about ever since she was old enough to think about boys. A little sigh escaped her lips as she snuggled down next to him, rolling onto her side facing him and curling up. She glanced at his face, relaxed and calm now, and smiled a little. "Goodnight, Raion..." she whispered to him.

He felt her move off the bed and heard the drawer open and shut. Then, the bed dipped as she crawled back into it and under the covers with him. She was close to him, though not close enough to be touching him quite. He could feel the heat from her body, the indescribable hum of her aura that told him that there were inches between them. Without opening his eyes, he snaked an arm over her hip and pulled her flush to him. He shifted slightly to his side so that she was tucked into his body, her curves against his hard frame, yielding where he needed the space and filling the gaps where there was room.

Cuddling wasn't something he was particularly used to; his resume for snuggle-age was lacking. In fact, he could probably count the amount of people he'd snuggled in his life: his mother… his sister… ya. That was probably it, though, sometimes he was an unwilling participant in snuggling his father because Luffy liked to hold him hostage to snuggle him when he was small.

It was surprisingly warm and wonderful. Especially so because it was Eevee and there was something about her that just tripped all his switches to begin with.

It was like this that he fell asleep finally, his arm around her, his chin propped on top of her head and a little subconscious thought churning around that he needed to do this more often.


	9. Chapter 9

***** DISCLAIMER, PLEASE READ- A Pirate's Life for Me is the third (kinda fourth) published story in this One Piece Universe that I and Jesachi, u/711995/Jesachi, have written together. Many people really enjoyed the first one, The Way of the Sword and Rose, but Jesachi and I have moved on to other writing in our lives, and we don't think we're ever going to go back and edit these. Therefore, this is a WARNING that this story is completely UN-EDITED and also written as a roleplay between myself and Jesachi, so the point of view switches between the two main characters every now and then. If this bothers you, don't read it :) We are only publishing these because we thought our fans might want to see the direction we took with our One Piece Universe. I hope you enjoy! Raion and Eevee are an amazing couple, and Luffy's entire crew makes an appearance eventually :)**********

The sun was peering through the several portholes in his room when he finally managed to peel his eyes open. Fuck, he'd slept hard like he'd hit a fifth of tequila the night before. He wasn't even sure he'd dreamed...

A couple of things came to light. First, he was naked. Which wasn't terribly startling, since he was basically the parent to a ship load of children, he tried not to make a habit of it. Secondly, he wasn't alone in his bed. Which _was_ terribly startling. People didn't sleep in his bed with him. Ever. His bed was his space and he refused to share it. He didn't particularly like sleeping with people anyway because of the intimacy of it, but his bed was _his_.

And there was a body in it with him. A female body. Eevee's female body. And he was curled around her like Saran wrap, on his side, her ass tucked into his hips, his arm under her pillow and his other arm over her waist with his hand resting on her rib cage. He'd even pushed the tee shirt up so that he was touching her skin.

What was _more_ startling... he liked it. He liked it a lot.

Oh man, this was so messed up. Soooo messed up. First it was the weird sex, then the sleeping? What the hell was this chit doing to him, screwing up his groove?

 _It_ _'_ _s just different because you_ _'re nakama,_ his thoughts voiced an opinion, _So you have to allow for some exceptions. You can_ _'_ _t exactly kick her off the ship now that you_ _'_ _ve fucked her._

This was true.

Besides, he had like, a hundred other problems and no time to deal with women. He had his family to support, that service today and the party tonight. It was gonna be another ride on the emotional Sea Train.

He snuggled in Eevee a little, burying his face in the back of her neck where all her hair was. Part of him would not have minded whatsoever to just take a break of reality and stay here with her in the bed all day, fucking and kissing. But he dismissed that thought. He didn't have time for such trivialities. He had shit to do.

All the same, he pushed her hair off her neck and pressed his mouth to the top of her spine and flexed his hips against her bare ass.

"Wake up, princess," he murmured, the hand on her ribs moving up to cup her breast, "I have shit to do today, starting with you."

Eevee came awake rather quickly, and it wasn't at all surprising, considering her situation. She was in Raion's room, in his bed, and he was wrapped around her intimately. His hips were pressed firmly around her butt, and as he flexed them, she could feel his hard length between her cheeks. His large hand palmed her breast, squeezing it gently.

Her face flamed and she stiffened, unaccustomed to such an awakening. It was brutally sexual and intimate, and a part of her brain frantically searched for the reason as to why he was naked and she was only in a shirt. Then...her memories returned, and she remembered that they'd had sex the night before. She was no longer a virgin...he'd taken that from her, an act that had been, altogether, far _more_ than she'd ever dreamed it could be. He may have taken her virginity, but he _gave_ her pleasure like she'd never known before. Startling, heady, explosive pleasure.

His murmured words brought heat settling low in her belly, belying her embarrassment with sudden arousal. It was startling how easily her body was becoming used to his, how quickly it reacted to him. Not sure what she was supposed to do with this, unsure if he was serious about his remark, Eevee held herself still against him. She simply enjoyed the sensation of having his hot and hard body pressed so closely to her own.

"Good morning..." she told him, and her voice came out somewhat breathless, a little rough from sleep. She closed her eyes again and inhaled deeply, taking in his scent, feeling her body tighten and grow even more warm from it.

When Nami had woken up, the first thing she'd done was go down to Party's Bar where Makino was laying breakfast and coffee out, aided by Sanji. Not many people were up yet, in fact, she wouldn't even be up this early, but she didn't sleep good without her husband. Only the early risers were seated in the bar, hands wrapped around warm mugs of steaming joe. Sabo and Dahlia, Mara, Robin, Zoro's girls... Nami said good morning to them and pulled up a chair to socialize for a minute. Everyone seemed a little tired, but not as down today as yesterday.

By the time she called it quits and took a cup of coffee to go, a few more people had filtered in. Raion's Fishman nakama, Zoro sans Tikka, a few villagers. Nami said her goodbyes and with coffee in one hand and a to-go container in the other, she headed back up to the house.

She caught sight of him on the steps, sitting there, twirling his straw hat around and around. He was still in the same clothes as yesterday; a red t-shirt and navy cargo shorts, but his dark hair was a complete disaster. He looked... positively exhausted and her heart broke into a thousand pieces just looking at him. It seemed like he'd lived a hundred lifetimes overnight.

Luffy looked up when she climbed the stairs and sat next to him and he smiled. Just that one, genuine little grin from him made her feel better.

"Hey," he said, taking the coffee she held out to him and plopping his hat on her head.

"Hey, yourself," she replied, adjusting the hat on her curls, "You hungry? I brought you some breakfast..." he hadn't eaten much in days. His face was a little thin.

He made a half-nod, half shrug gesture, "Sure," he took the container and opened it. Inside was a little bit of everything she could think that might appease his appetite, but he took the toast instead, "Did you eat?" he asked her.

"I did, at Makino's."

He narrowed his eyes at her, "You're lying."

She rolled her eyes at him and snatched a piece of toast out of the container, "Fine," she agreed, "But you really need to eat."

"I am," he held up the coffee and toast, a little grin on his face, "Look."

"You and I both know you can clear this village of its winter stock," she gave him a droll stare, to which he chuckled a little, then stared at his toast, flipping it over in his hand like he was studying it.

"We... we buried Ji-Ji this morning..." he whispered, swallowing hard.

Her heart squeezed painfully in her chest and she scooted closer to him. He laid his head on top of hers, "And?" she prompted, just as quietly, like anything louder would have set him off into tears again.

He did that shrug-nod thing, "And that's it. Chopper said the priest will come do a thing before lunch for everyone else."

"Where's Ace?"

He nodded his head towards the house behind them, "Showering. Mara came in earlier and woke us up before... you know."

She nodded and they were quiet for a minute. Then, without speaking, she plucked the toast and coffee out of his hands, placed them down and crawled into his lap, facing him. He placed his hands on her hips and she brushed his hair off his forehead, "Today's gonna be a great day," she assured him.

Luffy smiled, "Everyday's a great day. Except yesterday. Yesterday was not a great day."

"We are gonna party all day long," she told him, smirking, "The Pirate Ball's coming tonight."

He froze, "What?" the excitement was plain on his face, not as much as she was used to seeing, but it was there regardless.

"Ya."

"No way."

"Ya way."

"How? Why?"

"Tikka arranged it," she said, "We thought Garp should go out in style."

His jaw dropped and a smile lit his face and she laughed a little. There was Luffy, her fun-loving, carefree, partying pirate king of a husband, "You're right. Today IS gonna be a great day," he kissed her face.

Raion felt her tense a little as she muttered a soft 'good morning' to him. He felt his breath catch a little inside him, a figurative noose tightening around his neck. But he brushed it aside, assured by his own thoughts that this was just for fun. Besides, he had a handful of her breast and his mouth creeping around her neck and up her jawline.

He pulled her over onto her back and under him, their bodies pressed together. He glanced down between them, noting that the t-shirt she was wearing was one of his. Riiiight. He remembered offering that to her. It was hot, the collar wide enough that it hung over one shoulder a little and revealed the slim line of her collarbone.

Damn. He wanted to fuck her. But she was too virgin for so much sex in a row. Instead, he gave her a wicked grin and disappeared under the covers. If his memory served him well, his mouth worked just as good to get her to beg his name.

Half hour and an orgasm - or two - later and Raion was begrudgingly shooing her out of his room so she could put proper clothes on.

"Don't wear black," he told her, "It's too depressing."

And he was showering and wrapping his head around his day. It was gonna be a great day. The most nerve-wracking part of this trip was done. He'd said his goodbyes to Garp-ji-ji, had supported his father during his meltdown. All that was left was a little service thing which he was praying would be brief and painless and then... the Pirate Ball was coming.

The Ultimate Party.

His Zoro-oji would tell him stories of the Pirate Ball. It was one of those things that happened rarely because it traveled the whole world all the time. It was considered to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. All the Straw Hats had done the Pirate Ball twice, once in their younger days and once again a little later, after his father had become the King. Ace-oji had done it once... he thought Rouge had done it once before too, but he wasn't entirely sure.

He, however, had never done it. He was terribly excited for it. Even a little guiltily excited.

He had Garp heavy on his mind still, but the idea that his day was going to end with drinking, dancing, eating, partying, music... god, the music... well. It was just plain gonna be a great fucking day.

Dressed in gray cargo shorts and a blue t-shirt - blue and black were his favorite colors, after all - with his swords in his blue sash and flip flops on, Raion exited his room. It was still fairly early, the crispness of morning saturating the air. He took a deep breath. He felt good today.

Downstairs, he rapped his knuckles against Eevee's door. They were the only two people on the ship, "Hey," he called, "You wanna meet Luffy? He's up by the house with my mother right now…" his Haki told him that everyone else was either sleeping still or at Makino's, probably getting breakfast.

At the mention of meeting Luffy, Eevee was instantly overcome with intense feelings of excitement and nervousness at the same time. She put herself in high gear and finished getting ready, taking a little extra time in front of the mirror to make sure she looked presentable for the Pirate King. She was meeting royalty, after all.

She was wearing s loose, flowing cream-colored shirt that came halfway down her knees in a pseudo-dress, cinched tight to her torso by a black leather corset that featured flowers carved into it. The shirt had billowing white sleeves and left her shoulders bear, and under the dress-shirt she wore a pair of black leggings that were molded to her legs and tucked into knee-high black leather boots. She left her hair loose and flowing over her shoulders, and she'd decided to line her eyes with kohl to bring out the startling color of her violet irises. She hoped she looked enough like a pirate for the Pirate King!

It didn't take them long to get from the ship to the field in front of Garp's house. The whole way, Eevee chatted to Raion about how excited she was to meet his father and all of the reasons why he had inspired her to become a pirate. Her words and actions belied a certain jitteriness about them, exposing her nervousness. Over and over, she twirled her finger into her long hair as she spoke.

She was actually about to meet _the_ Pirate King. She'd known a few pirates in her life, ones she'd met at Gabriel's bar who had been decent fellows, and all of them spoke very highly of Monkey D. Luffy, even if they hadn't met him. He was legendary...and those who hadn't met him, wished they had. And she was about to.

As they approached the house, her eyes fell on two figures sitting outside. When she was close enough, she could see that is was Nami, and a man who looked just like Raion, but much older and less stocky. He had the same dark, wild hair as Raion, and the same eyes too. A straw hat was sitting on Nami's head, and she recognized it for what it was: Luffy's famous Straw Hat.

Eevee stopped dead in her tracks as her stomach did a little flip. "T-that's him," she said in an awed voice, her mouth open and her eyes wide. She felt frozen to the spot, just staring at him. He looked...way smaller than she'd imagined. But his aura screamed powerful. She wasn't sure exactly how she knew that, but she could just tell, looking at him, that he was far more powerful than even Raion, and it floored her.

She came out of her room, looking flushed and excited and wearing an outfit he'd never seen before. It was a dress-shirt thing with the corset - he loved those fucking things - and black leggings and boots. She'd even put on some makeup, lining her eyes with dark kohl which made the purple in them brighten. Her eyes looked impossibly bigger.

He cocked a brow at it but didn't say anything, not sure how he was supposed to feel about that. Was she getting all dolled up to meet his old man? He tried not to think that was ridiculous, but she didn't typically wear makeup. She powdered her face and sometimes wore that shiny stuff on her mouth, but that was most definitely a habit from her upbringing.

Whatever.

But every minute they walked through town towards the house convinced him that he wasn't being ridiculous. She was positively giddy at the idea of meeting Luffy. It was evident in her body language, the way her feet would skip a little, how she twirled and twisted her hair, the fast way she spoke, explaining to him all the finer details as to WHY Luffy was her idol and how the Straw Hats were SUCH a huge influence on her life.

He placated her, nodding and listening and chuckling at her. She really was adorable, in all her fangirling. He tried to squelch the burning feeling inside his gut, not liking it.

He was jealous. He was jealous and he shouldn't be. Luffy was his father, for crissake! He loved him. If he had to pick a role model in his life, he'd probably pick Luffy too. While he was definitely more of a quintessential 'momma's boy', when he was growing up, he wanted to be everything Luffy was... and more. Every time he was sore from training, he picked himself up and kept going, because that's what his dad would have done. When they'd discovered his affinity for Haki, he wanted all three forms, because Luffy had them. He threw everything he had into swordfighting, because rubber was useless against sharp objects. He wanted to be a pirate, not a smuggler or a bandit or hell, a marine, because Luffy was the King of the Pirates and he wanted to be all that and more.

Monkey D. Luffy was the sole motivation for where Raion was today. Supported, of course, by his mother and his Zoro-oji.

... Eevee hadn't been this excited to join HIS crew as she was about meeting Luffy right now.

Damn it. Why was it that only she made him feel insecure? He wasn't an insecure person. Ever. End of story. And yet... as the house came into view and she stopped dead in her tracks, her body practically quivering in excitement, he felt like he was once again trapped under the shadow of awesomeness that defined Luffy.

Raion rolled his eyes at her and tugged her hand, "He's only human, Eevee," he reminded her. He tapped under her chin, "Come on."

His mother was sitting on his father's lap, the straw hat on her head. Even though they were his parents so a little part of him was all 'gross' at them, he could watch them all day. There was something about them, the weird love they had. Despite the fact that his father would do something stupid and Nami would whack him over the head or scold him, there was this way that they trusted each other that Raion had only seen in a few people. A partnership that, as he got older and his sixth sense more attuned, that he was certain only happened between two people after they'd seen every good and every awful thing happen.

His mother laughed the hardest around his father. His father showed every vulnerability around his mother. It was perfect love, in his mind.

"Hey, son!" Luffy leaned to the side around his mother, smiling broadly. Nami turned around and, seeing Raion, slipped off Luffy and perched on the stairs beside him.

"Hey, ossan," Raion replied, teasing. A tick went off in Luffy's jaw. Good. His old man was in a far better mood.

"Who you calling 'ossan', punk?"

"You." Raion went right up to him and tugged his nose, stretching it far and snapping it back. Luffy's eyes flashed in irritation and he looked like he was about to stand up and retaliate, so Raion quickly kissed his mother's cheek and stuck his tongue out at Luffy, grinning wickedly.

"Hi, baby," Nami greeted him, fluffing his hair, "Good morning, Eevee."

"Dad," Raion introduced, "This is Eevee, new nakama of mine. She's a doctor. Eevee, meet Luffy."

"Wow! A doctor!" Luffy exclaimed, forgetting all about his son's teasing, "Finally! Raion needed a doctor on his ship. You must be amazing."

Eevee felt like she was in a dream. The Pirate King was talking to her, grinning at her. Saying she must be amazing. She was unable to answer him for a moment as she stared at him, rooted to the ground where Raion had dragged her to. A legend was saying she must be amazing.

But at the same time, his easy nature surprised her. Such a powerful, amazing man was laughing and teasing so readily. He didn't look nearly as big as she thought he'd be; Raion was bigger in terms of pure muscle mass, in fact.

When Luffy blinked at her delay in speaking, she was spurred back to reality and snapped out of her daze, a flush of color rushing to her cheeks. "Oh! Well, no, really...I'm not," she laughed a little embarrassingly, her finger returning to her hair to twist the auburn strands around and around. "But I do my best. I've wanted to be a pirate my whole life, even before I met Raion when I was little. I read all of the newspaper clippings about you and your crew; you've been my idol my whole life!"

Eevee let out a little sound and covered her mouth, as if surprised that she'd admitted that so readily. The words had simply popped out of her mouth. Her blush darkened a little and, feeling flustered, she looked down from Luffy's direct gaze. "I'm so happy to be a part of Raion's crew...my whole life has changed for the better and it's really all thanks to your son, you know. If it wasn't for him, I doubt I'd have the courage to have left my old life and chase my dreams of becoming a pirate."

Luffy blinked at her, then burst out laughing, really laughing, like he hadn't laughed for days, "I like this girl!" he proclaimed, standing and stretching his arms above his head a little longer than was anatomically correct. Then, he laid a hand on her head and his other hand on Raion's shoulder, "She talks real fancy, like a noble lady. You'll be alright with her!" he grinned at his son, then glanced over his shoulder at Nami, "Let's go get breakfast. I'm hungry."

She smiled and stood, dusting off her pants, "Yes, dear," she said. Her mahogany eyes were dancing and Raion cocked a brow at her when she gave him a look, then flickered her eyes to Eevee then back to him. She had something wicked in those eyes, like she knew something. She'd looked at him like that yesterday too, he remembered.

"What?" he asked her.

"Nothing, baby," she said, her voice sugary sweet. She kissed his cheek then grabbed Luffy's arm. Raion watched them start to walk away. His mother leaned into his father and pulled his head down to say something in his ear. To which Luffy gave her a look, then glanced at Raion and then laughed and said something equally quiet back to his wife.

They were being weird.

He shrugged it off and held his arm out for Eevee, "You hungry? Let's go," his previous jealousy and insecurity had been worn away as she gushed to Luffy about how awesome her pirate life was, being on Raion's ship. His crew was pretty great, wasn't it?

The service that afternoon was... it was a service. Raion found himself utterly detached from it. He didn't hear a word the priest said, instead hearing loads of people crying around him. Apparently, this was all terribly sad for everyone.

What he ended up focusing on the most was the fact that his father stood next to him, staring blankly, not a single tear. For all he knew, his father had completely mentally checked out.

"Dad..." he'd nudged Luffy, "You okay?"

The Pirate King shook himself a little and glanced at him, "I'm done now. I'm sick of being sad."

He nodded. He definitely understood that one. He didn't think he'd be socially allowed to put it so bluntly, but it was exactly how he felt.

After the service, Sanji and Zeke started getting a healthy lunch going. The atmosphere of the group lifted considerably, considering they just had a funeral service. People were diving into the booze and the food and Raion was sitting alone for a brief moment when Sabo sidled up to him. He could tell, immediately, that his best friend was into the liquor. It didn't take much with him.

"Soooo," Sabo drawled, his voice low as he flopped down next to Raion, "How was your night last night?" he waggled his brows.

He frowned, a bad feeling tickling the inside of his belly as to where this particular conversation was going, "Fine." he answered simply.

"Did you have company over?"

Raion drank from his mug, his ears turning pink, "Maybe."

Sabo chuckled and grinned, "So, like, what? You guys gonna date now?"

He nearly choked on his drink, "No. No, it's not like that."

When those blue eyes implored him for more, he shrugged, "We're just... fuck buddies, I guess..." though, it sounded way nastier to say it out loud than it really was. It was... too complicated to be granted a title.

"You like her... she sleeps over... you're having sex with her... you're in a relationship, bro," Sabo grinned.

"No, I'm telling you, it's just fun."

"You getting any from anyone else?"

"Well, no, but I could if I wanted, I suppose... what the hell is up with this interrogation?" Raion insisted.

Sabo ignored that last bit and said, "That just makes you a bad boyfriend." he stood and stretched, "But, if that's what you guys wanna do, then whatever," he paused and gave the captain a look, "... she does want to just fuck around, right?"

Raion shrugged and shook his head, making a face like his friend was being ridiculous now, "She knows what she's getting into with me. I don't commit."

"Have you been explicit about that?"

"Sabo, she's not stupid."

"Ah, but she's a woman." Sabo said seriously, "I'd suggest being clear with her. I don't wanna clean up after your mess."

"There won't be any mess."

"Fine. Have it your way," and he walked away, heading towards Dahlia.

Raion stuffed his face into his mug, frowning like a petulant child as he watched his best friend twirl the French woman around and kiss her whole face. His eyes shifted over to Eevee, who was engaged in conversation with his sister and her two Amazon Lily friends. Ridiculous. This was all just dumb. He and Eevee were adults, for crissake. They could do whatever and whoever they wanted...

He drank more sake to quench the sudden burning feeling in his stomach at the idea of her fucking some other guy.

It was late in the afternoon when an enormous ship came into view off the coast. Eevee didn't spot it herself, but noticed quickly after several people started gasping and pointing, as well as talking hurriedly and excitedly.

Eevee turned her head and spotted the Party Ship as it was docking in the distance. Her first impression...was that someone had decided to make the loudest, more colorful ship possible. It was all very fashionably and classily done, however, and Eevee was impressed with the decorating skills that must have gone in to the creation of such a sight.

"Wow..." she muttered, her eyes widening. Next to her, Margherita made a gagging noise and feigned hanging herself. Eevee turned questioning eyes her way, and Rouge grinned.

"Snake-girl doesn't really do _dancing_ ," Rouge supplied, saying the word in Margherita's direction like it was a curse. The pixie-haired girl flinched dramatically, then glowered when Rouge actually punched her in the arm.

"Only frilly girls dance," Margherita said, her words implying that this was a bad thing.

"Hey! I'm not frilly chick, bitch, and I dance," Rouge shot back, aiming for another punch that Margherita managed to avoid this time.

Eevee chuckled at both of them, shaking her head. "I've heard about this ship...even among the Nobles, it's famous...or infamous, I suppose. Many nobles distain it, obviously, because it's a pirate's ship, but there are those who think it's a 'sliver of civilization among those brutes.'" She held her hand up and gestured with her hands to quote the nobles who'd she'd overheard discussing the Pirate Ball.

"We are plenty civilized," Margherita supplied, purposefully lifting a roll of bread and biting into it like a savage. She grinned at Eevee as she gnashed it with her sharp-as-pins teeth.

Eevee laughed, "Oh yes, I can see that."

"There's something to be said for uncivilized brutes," Rouge said with a wicked grin and a wink, taking a deep draw from a mug of ale.

Before she could stop herself, Eevee's eyes flickered over to Raion, and when she looked back at the girls, both of them were staring at her with raised brows and mischievous smirks on their faces. Eevee blushed hard and looked down at the cup in her hand.

"Sooooo...I noticed I was alone in my tent this morning..." Margherita said conversationally, nudging Eevee with her shoulder.

"Really?!" Rouge exclaimed, her eyes widening. She looked from Eevee to Margherita and back, and Eevee's blush darkened, confirming her guilt. She tilted her head even further down, as if there was something horribly interesting in her cup. "Holy shitsticks...You stayed with my cuz all night?"

Eevee sighed, knowing she wasn't going to be able to get out of this conversation even if she tried. "Yes...I went to make sure he was okay. We...uh.." her face flamed even brighter and she hunched her shoulders a little. "Anyways, he asked me to stay, so I did."

Margherita nodded slowly as she nibbled on her bread. "I knew it...I knew he'd let you."

"Wait, wait, hold your friggin' horses. Are you a virgin, Eevee?" Rouge asked, lowering her voice so that their conversation wasn't overheard. Her blue eyes were locked on Eevee's face with intense interest.

"N-not anymore..." Eevee said in a voice so quiet, both girls had to lean in to hear.

Margherita almost choked on her bread, and Rouge laughed, hard, as she smacked the smaller girl on the back. Eevee felt she was sure to expire from embarrassment on the spot. When Margherita stopped choking and Rouge stopped laughing, the Dragon said, "well damn, sounds like you had a good night. He take care of you? He better have, or I'm gonna roast his hide until he's black and crunchy..." she said slyly, her eyes flickering in the direction of her cousin.

"Ew! No details, thanks," Margherita said with a grimace. "That was already more than I wanted to know."

"Are you kidding me? That isn't even half of what I want to know!" Rouge said, her eyes twinkling with insane curiosity. Eevee, however, was shaking her head adamantly.

"I don't want to talk about it! It was fine, everything is fine," she told them hurriedly, holding up her hands. "But...wait, Margherita, what do you mean, let me?"

Both girls blinked at her in confusion, then Margherita connected the dots and her eyes widened. "Oh, well...you're the first girl to spend the night in his room."

Rouge glanced at Margherita, her brows rising, "Really? I thought my cousin was a manwhore."

Margherita nodded, "Oh, he is. But he never brings his flings home. And there have been many..."

Eevee didn't know how to feel about that. She'd deduced, from jokes and offhand comments, that Raion had been with many women before her, but to hear it confirmed made her stomach clench painfully and her veins to tighten with cold. At the same time, to hear that she was the first that he'd taken to his room...Well, it made her giddy inside in a way she didn't want to admit. It made her feel special, and her eyes slid back over to their captain.

"Wow, didn't know that shit. Well, congrats, lady...I guess that makes last night a milestone of sorts," Rouge said with a shrug, taking a sip from her cup. "But then, he definitely acts differently with you than I've ever seen him act with a girl, that's true."

"Yup. I think she's gonna be the cure to his manwhore-idis." Margherita said frankly with a firm nod of her head, a sly little grin pulling at the corner of her lips.

Eevee shook her head, "I'm not sure what to think of all of this...This is awfully confusing to me," she admitted in a somewhat timid voice.

Rouge rolled her eyes dramatically and nodded at the same time, "Oh, men always are. Don't worry, things will work themselves out. Besides, we gotta get going to that ship. It's time to get our _frilly_ on," she said with a grin, pinching Margherita's ear and dragging the hissing girl up to her feet. She released her when Margherita took a swipe at Rouge's unprotected flank, which the dragon easily avoided.

"Bitch! Do that again and I'll make your _skin_ frilly," she threatened as she flashed her claws. Eevee chuckled at their bickering as she got up to follow them. Her thoughts were heavy with Raion, but she was so confused as to what everything between them was supposed to mean. She'd never been in a relationship or anything, and she wasn't sure what she was supposed to act, to expect, or anything. For the moment, she had to take Rouge's advice and simply not worry. She put him from her mind and let it fill, instead, with the excitement of her first Pirate Ball.

"Where are we going to prepare?" Eevee asked as she hurried to catch up to them.

"They're ship features a dress and tux rental place where you can get dressed and dolled up at the same time. We want the best pick of dresses so we'll want to get there are quickly as possible," Rouge said with a wink over her shoulder.

Eevee was surprised to hear this, but also pleasantly surprised. She'd expected everyone to be wearing pirate clothes as they danced, but there would really be gowns and suits? How exciting!

"I have a gown that I can wear, so I'll grab that and meet you ladies there, alright?" Eevee said with a genuine smile, breaking from the group and heading towards their own ship once they were close enough.

"Of course you do, princess..." Margherita drawled, making another gagging face as she reluctantly followed Rouge towards the Party Ship.

"You'll probably have the best dress in there then, miss Noble," Rouge joined in on the teasing, and Eevee grinned back at them as she waved. "Alright then, we'll see you soon. Don't be long, we'll want your advice for getting frilly, right Pixie?" Rouge said, ruffling Margherita's blue hair. The smaller girl muttered something too low for Eevee to hear, so she just laughed and waved as she headed for the Hebi Go, picking up her pace.

He was more excited than he cared to admit.

But, thankfully, Luffy and Sabo were so exuberantly excited, linking arms and screaming like school girls that Raion felt like it was socially acceptable for him to at least pretend like he was playing along.

He wasn't pretending so so much though, because he wanted to link arms and scream too, he was that pumped.

But he didn't. Instead, he and Zoro-oji talked swords and alcohol while the men boarded the Pirate Ball ship and beelined straight for the tux rentals.

The moss-haired man stared around the place, his arm propped on his three swords and he sighed, "Here we go again..." he muttered.

Raion mirrored his gesture, arm over his own weapons at his hip, "Not the most exciting part of the Ball?" he asked, cocking a brow at his uncle.

Zoro rolled his dark eyes, "Oh. You'll see in a minute here..."

They weren't even in the room for thirty seconds before Sanji was herding them all together. He was dressed in a more deluxe three-piece suit than he normally could be seen in. Clearly, he'd already picked out his outfit, ready to rock and roll. He slapped his cigarette pack against his hand, took one out, lit it and took a long drag. Then, he sighed.

"Alright, gentleman!" he announced, clapping his hands together, "No one leaves without my approval first! Everyone must look sharp for the ladies!"

Zoro made a face, "Shut the fuck up already," he sighed, "Except the kids, we've all done this twice. We got the drill, curly brow."

The cook leveled a look at the swordsman, "You think this is a joking matter, marimo?"

The click of a sword being opened, "I think you take it way too seriously."

The two rivals were getting closer and closer to each other, right at the cusp of sizing each other up when Luffy and Sabo, now accompanied by Usopp, jumped right into the middle of them.

"I want to pick out clothes now!" Luffy exclaimed. He grabbed Zoro and Raion with his long rubbery arms, "Son, Zoro, let's go!"

Thus was the beginning of a long afternoon in the tux rental room. Raion hadn't worn a tux since... shit, Rouge and Lukas' wedding a couple of years ago? So after browsing around and the sizes utterly confusing him, Sanji had him measured. Sabo was being measured too, along with the Fishman Twins.

"I've never worn a suit..." Titus muttered, holding his arms out to that their length could be measured. Zeke shook his head in agreement.

"I haven't worn a suit since my marine days..." Lukas came out of the dressing room, shirtless in a pair of black pants. He held out the shirt and jacket, "Sanji, I need a different size shirt. My shoulders don't fit..."

Luffy was done first. He knew what he liked and Sanji knew his size. Raion's leg length was still being calculated when his sire burst out of the dressing room.

"Ya!" he exclaimed, "Done!" he was wearing black cargo shorts - they had cargo shorts in here, what? - a red button down untucked with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a black tie and over his shoulders, a heavy black coat with the shoulder tassels.

Sandals on his feet and his straw hat completed the outfit.

Sanji took a drag off his smoke, "Can you at least wear dress pants?" he asked.

"Nope!"

"Nami-san's wearing blue tonight... don't you want to match?"

"I don't fucking care. I like this."

The cook sighed, "Fine."

"What? He gets to wear shorts?" Zoro growled in exclamation.

"Can it. He's the captain." Sanji retorted.

"I'm the captain... can I wear shorts?" Raion asked mulishly.

"No!"

Sabo laughed.

An agonizing hour later, Raion was investigating his new gigs in the mirror. Shit. He looked sharp. After arguing with Sanji for like, twenty minutes, he managed to get away without wearing the vest part of the tux and was allowed to keep his boots. He had on a pair of snug black pants that had just enough room to move around tucked into his shit kickers. On top, he had on a dark gray button down, a black tie and a black jacket that he refused to button. Under his jacket, he had his blue sash - Tikka-oba gave it to him because he admired her beautiful gold one so much - with his swords tucked into it.

Satisfied, he exited the dressing room and came face to face with Sabo, also exiting his room.

They stopped and blinked at each other. Sabo... was wearing the exact opposite of him. White pants, flip flops, light gray shirt and a white jacket with the buttons undone. Hooked to his belt were his collapsible sea stone staff and his sea stone infused gloves. He didn't need them now, but like Raion, he always carried them.

Sabo laughed, "I don't we could've planned that better if we tried."

Raion grinned, "Nope."

Sanji came over and with his cig on his lip, he stuffed Raion's tie up until his choked, "You look like a slob, punk."

The captain yanked at the tie as Sanji did the same thing to Sabo, "I can't breathe with it so tight," he complained, loosening it and undoing the top buttons, "Dad and Zoro don't wear them tight."

Sabo made a gag face and tugged at his tie too, though he didn't loosen it as much as Raion did. Sanji scowled, "Don't you care what the ladies think?"

"Uncle," Raion said seriously, "The ladies like what's _under_ my clothes."

Nearby, someone snorted with laughter and Raion saw Lukas appear. If someone could look both dashing and menacing in the same breath, it was that man. He was built broad and strong, bigger than Raion even and that was hard. Stick him in the navy three piece suit he was wearing and he looked like class that could kick ass.

"Oohh, bro," Raion teased him, "Rouge is gonna eat you alive."

Lukas grinned wickedly in such a way that he must've picked up from his wife, "She likes what's _under_ my clothes."

Raion made a face and Sabo laughed, leaning on his knees.

"Let's hustle, gentlemen!" Sanji checked his watch, "We can't keep the ladies waiting!"

They all filed out. Raion and Sabo, Titus and Zeke - looking cleaned up in their simple black tuxes - Lukas, the Straw Hats... everyone in various degrees of dressed up, from simple like Luffy to weirdly fashionable like Franky to flirting with the edge of nobility like Sanji.

The deck was in the throes of getting started. People were milling in and out of the dressing rooms, all sorts of people, from pirates to villagers to some nobles from the Kingdom looking for a little risque romp with a rowdier crowd. A band was getting set up on a stage off to the side. Behind him somewhere, he heard Brook's distinct laugh.

"Yohohohoho! Raion-san!"

He turned around, spotting the tall skeleton instantly, "What?"

"Shall we take over the music later?"

He laughed, "That sounds like a great idea!"

Inside Garp's house, Ace was lying stomach-down on the living room floor, thumbing through an old photo album. It was blissfully quiet. In the distance, he could hear the music from the Pirate Ball gearing up.

Nostalgia hit him hard. The last time he'd been to the Pirate Ball had been when he was still a pirate under Whitebeard. A whole other lifetime ago, it seemed.

He flipped the page of the album. Pictures of him and Luffy as children danced under the yellowing film. Him with his pipe staff, Luffy and his straw hat, too big for his head. And there was Sabo, with his gape-toothed smile and frayed coat for whom his son was named after. Another page. He paused. There was his mother, very, very pregnant and tired looking. He remembered now; Garp had taken that picture for Ace, so that he'd know what his mother looked like. It was the only one.

He ran his thumb over the old photograph. His daughter looked just like her, a spitting image, her small stature, her face, with the freckles and the smile. Except the hair. His mother had strawberry blonde hair.

Suddenly, there was weight on his ass and Ace whipped his head around, a little startled.

"Hi, honey," Mara said, smiling, her long blonde hair slipping like silk over one shoulder, "Why is it I always catch you like this? What would the World Government think?"

He frowned, "Why aren't you at the Ball?" he glanced at her outfit, though it was difficult to get a good look at it from his position. It looked like a silver dress.

She shrugged, "I didn't want to go. It wouldn't be fun for me to dance without my husband."

"But it's the Pirate Ball. A once in a lifetime chance..."

Again, she shrugged, "We can have our own Pirate Ball right here," she stood and he shifted and got to his feet. She swirled around in her dress, "What do you think?"

What did he think? It was beautiful. Silvery, with a mirror-like shimmer to it that at one turn made it look silver, but at the next made it look clear. It flowed like water over her, so that she seemed to be liquid personified. It was attached at her neck, with a deep V down the front that stopped at her diaphragm. And it was backless, material catching at her ass and hips.

"I like it a lot." he grinned, "Though, not in public, preferably."

She laughed, "It's only for you, silly," she draped her arms around his neck and he settled his hands at her hips, "Shall we dance?"

They twirled around the living room a little bit, to music that was only in their heads, so close together that she was practically standing on his feet. He traced his hands over her back and her hips and paused.

"Again?" he perked a brow, "What's with you, fancy dresses and no undies?"

Mara grinned, "I told you, I don't like the lines."

He matched her grin, but his was positively wicked, "Neither do I..."

The girls spent almost two hours preparing, and much of it had fallen to Eevee when it had become known that she used to be a noble. Demands for her to do their make-up and advice on what color dress to pick kept Eevee busy the whole time. There was such a range in styles that it was like a rainbow was assembling among the pirate and village women present.

When everyone was finally ready, Tikka lead the way out. She looked positively dazzling in a short sequined red dress that hugged her curves and left one shoulder exposed. The back was criss-crossed, leaving diamonds of her tanned flesh exposed almost down to her ass. Her curls were tight and glossy, but left loose to fall around her shoulders, held back from her face by a red ribbon.

Everyone, to Eevee, looked wonderful. She'd never imagined to see so many pirates dressed so closely to nobles. Nami wore a shimmering blue dress that had a slit up to her thigh, Robin wore a striking black dress that left a generous amount of cleavage exposed and hugged her curves like shadows. Dahlia wore a gorgeous white sari dress with intricate gold, blue, and green designs along the hem of the loose fabric that was slung over one shoulder and trailed behind her like a mid-thigh length train. Rouge was going to knock her husband's socks off in the tiniest dress that Eevee had every seen. The material was a shimmering blue that seemed green in some light and a dark navy in others, with a loose dip of fabric in the front that fell past her breasts and exposed the both the top and bottom curves along her cleavage. It was so short Eevee feared her butt would be exposed, and the back was likewise exposed, and her dragon-tattoo was proudly displayed with her masses of black hair pinned up. The Dragon strut her stuff like she couldn't care less if she was nearly naked. Eevee had deduced that the woman truly didn't possess a sense of modesty, and she wore that lack of modesty with _pride_.

"This is so going to blow...can't wait for the after-party, where everyone gets _trashed_." Margherita was speaking next to Eevee in a low voice as the two of them trailed after the rest of the women. She had been forced, most loudly and with many explicits, into a dress. It actually fit her quite perfect: it was a loose black dress the same material as the t-shirts she always wore, and cinched at her waist by a loud yellow and blue belt that matched her eyes and hair. The material fell off her shoulders and left them exposed, and only did so because the snake girl had _ripped_ the material along the top and left it ragged, despite Eevee's protests.

"There's going to be an after party?" Eevee asked, glancing at her with widened eyes. Her own gown was one she'd never worn before. It had been a gift to her shortly before she'd run away from home, and she'd taken it because it had been one of the most beautiful gowns she'd ever received. The material was a slinky, shimmering silk the color of light gold, tight around her waist and breasts but flared out in soft ripples around her feet, clinging to her curves like liquid before it flared out just above her knees. The material was a similar type of material to the one Rouge wore, and appeared silver in some lights and a deep brazen gold in others, changing like oil on the surface of water. A broad purple ribbon, the color matching her kohl-rimmed eyes, stretched across her ribs directly under her breasts, then wrapped around her torso once more like the way ballet slippers wrap around calves, then tied at the small of her back in a small bow. The ribbon was long, and trailed down the back of her dress all the way to her feet, fluttering behind her when she walked like two slender banners of elegance. The cut was a sweetheart neckline, low enough to show a good amount of cleavage, and came up and over her shoulders in two slender straps that flared wider at the tops of her shoulders, then narrowed once more as it connected to the low back, exposing skin down to her mid-back, right above where the purple ribbon wound around back for the first time. Her hair had been pulled up into an loose chignon, leaving a few curls to frame her face and falling around her slender throat, which bore a single golden chain that held a single amethyst that hung right at the dip of her collarbone. When she'd come out of the dressing room, almost all the females in the room had instantly barraged her praises and questions about noble balls.

"Yeah, there's always an after party when you're partying with pirates. This ball is suppose to be pretty fancy and elegant I guess, so I'm betting that a real rowdy party is gonna happen afterwards for sure," Margherita confirmed with a savage-looking grin on her face.

Eevee was about to say something back when they came out onto the deck. Music had started by then, and some people were already twirling around on the dance floor. The air was filled with cat-calls and yells of approval from the various pirate men whose women had just emerged. Lukas in particular blew a loud whistle as he caught sight of his wife, and waggled his brows dramatically and suggestively at her as she slinked his way. To Eevee's embarrassment, many people were staring at her with wide eyes and open mouths, and more than one low whistle was blown in her direction.

"Wooooow! Beautiful-chwannnnnn! I mean, my darling Princess, please dance with me!" Sanji's voice appeared next to her within moments of her appearance, and Eevee looked up, startled, to see him bowing over an extended hand.

"Ow! Raion, I didn't realize your new nakama was so cultured! She looks like a real noble, all SUPA gorgeous like!" Franky called from nearby, grinning at Raion behind slick black shades.

"She's a dancer, too," Sabo threw in with a similar grin, twirling Dahlia around as he spoke.

A murmur of surprise when around ballroom, and suddenly an enormous man dressed in an impossibly frilly suit appeared out of nowhere. "A dancer! And she most definitely carries herself like a noble...hmmm...Lady, you have officially been elected as a dance instructor for these uncultured brutes. I want you to dance with as many of them as possible, and make sure they are dancing correctly! Be firm with them, and watch your feet," The red-bearded man told her sternly, but his voice held a lilt to it that was almost feminine.

"Loo-bear, leave Eevee alone. She's here to enjoy the ball, not turn everyone here into dancing queens like you want them to be," Tikka said exasperatedly, shaking a finger in the direction of the man.

"Ho-ho! Dancer eh? I want a spin after Sanji then!" Brook announced, and Eevee found herself blushing and wishing she could step back into the dressing room behind her.

"Me too! Me too! I want to go FIRST!" Suddenly Luffy exploded out of nowhere, and slammed into Sanji so hard the man stumbled to the left before he caught himself, then whipped around on his captain with a menacing glare.

"Luffy! I was here first, so move your ass! Besides, you're married," Sanji added with a satisfied smirk.

"So what?! This is a dance lesson, not a date or some shit like that. And I'm the King so I get to go first," at this, he stuck his tongue out at Sanji and grinned broadly, and Sanji lunged for him, but Luffy dodged with a laugh, bringing himself right in front of Eevee. "Doctor-lady, show me how to dance," Luffy demanded, and grabbed her hands to tug her towards the dance floor.

Eevee opened her mouth to protest, to say that she wasn't a dance instructor or anything, but a concrete feeling of inevitability settled in her stomach. Whether she liked it or not, she was going to find herself dancing with several partners tonight, she could tell from the thrum of excitement that swept through the room and the catches of phrases like, "did you hear, she's a real noble!" and "a dancer! now THAT's an instructor I'll learn from. Better than Loo the Bear breathing down your neck."

As Luffy dragged her across the floor, he called out to Nami at the side-lines, "Just wait, wifey! I'll be able to sweep you off your feet once Doctor-lady shows me how!" To which Nami hid a smile and nodded her head solemnly, as if she believed he'd become a dancing professional after one little dance. She cast Eevee a look of amused sympathy, and gave a little wave. Finally Luffy stopped in the direct center of the floor, and whirled around to face her with a huge grin on his face. He spread his arms out and tilted his head to the side, "Yosh! I'm ready. Make me a dancing King."

Eevee stifled a laugh, his light-heartedness infectious and putting her at ease. It was just a few dances, after all, and it was with the pirates she'd idolized all her life. With a sigh, she nodded her head and reached up to grasp Luffy's hands. She kept one in her hand, then directed his other one to rest lightly at her waist, high enough that it was entirely appropriate for a married man. Luffy snickered in delight, practically vibrating with excitement. "Alright, so just follow my steps, and listen to the music. Feel for the direction I pull and push with my hand and the pull and push of my body to give you hints as to which direction we are about to turn."

Luffy stared at her for a second, blinked, then burst out laughing. Eevee got the distinct impression that those directions were already too complicated for him, for some reason. Chuckling, she shook her head a little, waited for the next appropriate beat...and began their dance 'lesson.'

Raion wasn't idling around for long when the girls came out and it was an absolute flutter of movement and excitement. Men were cat-calling and whistling and he had to crane his head around to see everyone, a flurry of color as his eyes immediately sought for violet eyes, auburn hair and a rhythm his soul recognized.

He didn't see her right away. His gaze touched on everyone, convinced that he might miss her. Rouge strut by him in the shortest dress he'd ever seen, right up to Lukas and the way they looked at each other suggested a very steamy evening. Dahlia was ravishing in white and Sabo crinkled his face and exclaimed excitedly about how they matched. His mother looked beautiful in blue, his sister dazzling in a purple and green curve-hugging dress with a long slit. Her friends in one purple and one green to match her, obviously. Zoro's twin teens were wearing shades of red that had their father rolling his eyes at them and Cerise sported a very typical soft pink princess dress. Even Margherita was wearing a dress, albeit it wasn't a very fancy one.

Then... at the back of the crowd, he spotted her. He had to actively remind himself to keep breathing. Now, he'd always known that Eevee was a beautiful woman. Very classically beautiful with her delicate bone structure, high cheek bones and bright eyes. She wasn't that type of attractive that was intimidating like Rouge or Margherita. She wasn't mysterious like Robin or adorable like Tikka. Put Eevee in a pair of boots and a corset and she was a helluva pirate princess, a true knock out.

In her noble garb... she was regal. He, the true Pirate Prince, felt like a stable boy compared to her. His own mother, the Pirate Queen, paled in comparison and that was saying something because Raion thought Nami was the most beautiful woman in the world.

Apparently, he thought wrong. In her gold dress, she was the first bright leaf of autumn and he the crunchy brown leaf. He was shadows and she was sunlight and he was dull and she was radiant. And as he tried to navigate the crowd to get to her and dance with her and she was swept up by men, he knew that if people were rain, he was a drizzle and she was a hurricane and he would drown in her.

"Onii-chan!" his arm was grabbed and he had to tear his eyes away from Eevee to meet his sister's mahogany stare, "Let's dance!"

"Uhh..." he stuttered for a minute, watching as Luffy practically dragged Eevee into the middle of the dance floor, "Ya, sure," he smiled down at his sibling. He'd get his chance to dance with Eevee. He couldn't blame his male nakama for wanting a little piece of her. She was endlessly fascinating.

But as he danced with his sister, then took a turn with each of her friends, and then Tikka-oba and then Margherita... and then even Rouge, he grew more and more frustrated. Every time he changed partners, he attempted to seek her out, each time thwarted as another man swept her away, hardly giving her time to breathe. She danced like a dream, he watched as guys shoved each other out of the way to take their three minutes with her. First Luffy, then Sanji, then Franky-oji, then Brook, then Loo the Bear, then Lukas and even fucking Sabo got a chance before Raion could get close. Strangers swept her up even, those brave enough to intercept her away from the pirates, though never for long as his family and nakama reclaimed her.

The next song changed and Lukas came over to reclaim his wife and Raion turned around, immediately looking for Eevee when suddenly, his mother was in front of him. Luffy shouted, "Take her off my hands for me, son!" and the Pirate King was shoving people out of the way so that he could grab Eevee up... for a second time.

Raion tried really hard to smile at his mother, but he couldn't stop the tick in his jaw and the exhale of frustration that had her laughing at him as she took his hands.

"What? Don't want to dance with your mother?" she teased him, that devious look in her eyes.


	10. Chapter 10

***** DISCLAIMER, PLEASE READ- A Pirate's Life for Me is the third (kinda fourth) published story in this One Piece Universe that I and Jesachi, u/711995/Jesachi, have written together. Many people really enjoyed the first one, The Way of the Sword and Rose, but Jesachi and I have moved on to other writing in our lives, and we don't think we're ever going to go back and edit these. Therefore, this is a WARNING that this story is completely UN-EDITED and also written as a roleplay between myself and Jesachi, so the point of view switches between the two main characters every now and then. If this bothers you, don't read it :) We are only publishing these because we thought our fans might want to see the direction we took with our One Piece Universe. I hope you enjoy! Raion and Eevee are an amazing couple, and Luffy's entire crew makes an appearance eventually :)**********

A couple of minutes ago...

Nami spun around, Luffy's arms twisting and twisting unnaturally and she laughed. He was a terrible dancer, really. But he was loving it and because his happiness was ultimately infectious, she was enjoying herself a hundred times more than she would have been without him.

She squealed and laughed as he dipped her _low_ down, so low that her shoulder blades nearly touched the floor, for the last beat of the song. And in her vision upside down, she saw something _interesting_.

Raion ditched his partner, his little snake nakama and she was picked up by Heavy Point Chopper and Nami watched with mounting curiosity as her son zeroed in on someone and started making his way across the room. She followed his gaze to see... Eevee. The young woman was talking to Loo-Bear, having just finished dancing with him. Nami pinged her eyes back to Raion, then back to Eevee, then back to Raion and watched, fascinated, as Lukas swept the noble princess up and Rouge grabbed Raion and dragged him away.

Now, Nami was incredibly smart. And she'd been piecing dots together for two days now and it was all coming to a head.

Luffy snapped her back up and she gasped as she suddenly found herself upright. He grinned widely at her and laughed and she pulled his face down so that her lips were by his ear.

"Watch Raion," she said sneakily, "And tell me what you see."

Luffy's eyes darted around the crowd, until they settled on their son and she watched him watch Raion, tugging at her lower lip in anticipation for his reaction. The Pirate King made a thinking face, then a concentrating face and Nami followed her son. The young pirate prince was talking to Rouge, but every second, his eyes were watching someone else, someone lovely in a golden sunset dress...

"He's really frustrated..." Luffy commented slowly and she knew he was using his Haki to aid him. He made a fast pulsing motion with his hand near his chest, "His heart is..."

"But why?" Nami prompted, too excited to wait for her dimwitted spouse to come to the conclusion on his own, "He wants to dance with Eevee!" she whispered.

Luffy snorted with amusement, "Course he does. Everyone does!"

She growled in frustration and pulled his hair until his face was level with hers, "C'mon, Luffy, work with me here!" she demanded, "He's frustrated, his heart rate in elevated, he can't stop watching her... he was holding her hand when they walked from the ship this morning... together... she left the bonfire last night after he did..." she made a motion with her hand, encouraging him to get the point...

He stared at her for a minute, blinking and she was just about to spoon-feed him the answer when a slow, devious grin spread over her face, "The Mystery Feeling..." he whispered and she nodded.

"Come," she grabbed his hand and started pulling him through the crowd, "I have a plan."

Luffy chuckled, "I love your plans."

Raion spun his mother around the dance floor, "No, I love dancing with you," he assured her with a grin.

"But I'm not who you _really_ want to dance with..." she hedged and he didn't know what kind of answer she was expecting so he just shrugged. His eyes automatically darted away for a brief second to seek her, dancing with Luffy, trying to teach him the steps and his sire laughing it off and twirling her around repeatedly.

"Are you having fun, baby?" Nami's question demanded his attention again.

"Ya!" he replied, "This is great! I think Brook and I are gonna steal the stage soon..."

She lit up, "Are you gonna sing something?"

He chuckled, "Maybe."

"Oh, your father would love that! He loves to hear you sing!"

Raion chuckled, "I know," Luffy was probably his number one fan when it came to his music. A typical night growing up in the Pirate King's household had been Raion playing the piano and Luffy singing at the top of his lungs, dancing Nami and Belle around. A regular favorite was obviously Binks no Sake, but he wasn't going to sing that tonight.

"TRADE YOU!" a shout came from behind them and Raion whirled around to see his father right there with Eevee. He whipped his head back around to see his mother grin knowingly and blow him a kiss before she was tugged from his grasp with a rubbery arm and replaced swiftly by a gold shimmery dress.

They fell into the step like two people cut from the same cloth of dance, he the music and she the rhythm. His body moved with hers so seamlessly that there was no leading and no following; they just were, like one mind and one body, born to the beat.

"Finally!" he breathed, glancing down at Eevee with a grin, "I was hoping you were next..." swear to god, if someone came to try and take her from him, he was gonna cut someone.

After years of dancing, it was pretty rare for Eevee to become dizzy from the act. Perhaps it was more the constantly changing hands and being passed from person to person that did it. It most definitely didn't help with Luffy grabbing her up for a second round, and, rather than obeying any of her dance instruction, he simply decided to spin her around like a top. Despite herself, she laughed, amazed by how his arm twisted like a rubber band, allowing her to spin endlessly while keeping a strong grip with his hand.

Luffy continued to spin her until suddenly she was stopped by him, and Luffy shouted out, "TRADE YOU!" Blinking, confused, Eevee looked up to find herself being maneuvered into position with...Raion.

Her heart stuttered in her chest, and a blush stole over her cheeks as he seamlessly placed a hand at her hip and another in one of hers, pulling her closer to him and into a proper dancing position. Except for Sanji and Lou, he was easily the best dancer of the evening as they began twirling across the floor together. Sanji and Lou may have had more practice and training, but she found she danced with Raion effortlessly. In a partner dance, the man was supposed to lead, and Raion did, but they moved so much so in sync that it was almost unnecessary.

His words made her heart quicken, and she smiled up at him, "You're certainly much better at this than your father is, though don't tell him I said that," she added the last part quickly, glancing over her shoulder at the pirate king, who doing the same to Nami what he had just been doing to her. Chuckling a little, she looked back up at Raion.

"You look dashing, senchou," she told him in a quieter voice, a smile playing at the edges of her lips and her eyes softened. The moment she'd spotted him, she'd lost her footing with Luffy during their first dance, not that the Pirate King had noticed. The lighter gray shirt emphasized the breadth of Raion's shoulders, and the black pants made his hips look even more narrow. With his mop of black hair an slashing dark eyes, the combination of it all stole her breath. Unconsciously, her fingers tightened on his shoulder as they danced, and she moved a little closer to him than she had with the other men she'd danced with that evening. "I like your choice of outfit," she said approvingly.

They were impossibly close, much closer than would have been appropriate for a partner dance. Every step brought them a hairsbreadth closer, her body flirting with his, one moment her breasts against his chest, the next twirling out of his arms and then tugged back again, pressed flush to him for a scaldingly brief time before she adjusted her grip and once again, the cycle of flirting would begin anew.

"You'd think he'd be better at it by now," he replied, watching his father twirl his mother until she stumbled and fell into him, dizzy and laughing, "He loves music and dance," he spun Eevee and brought her back into him again. His hand settled on her hips, over that shimmery gold material. It hugged her curves like a second skin down to her knees, then flared out reminiscent of a mermaid's tail.

He chuckled at her comment, her tone almost pleasantly surprised, "We uncivilized pirate folk can clean up good," he teased, "We just choose not to..." he skimmed his hand over her hip and back, the material slipping under his hands like mercury. He leaned in close to her, his cheek against hers and said, "You, however, put the Pirate Queen herself to shame tonight... and don't tell her I said that..."

So into dancing with her, as effortless as breathing, he didn't notice the observers they were gathering. At first, they paid attention because they were waiting for a break in the music, any excuse to snatch up the beautiful woman for another round. Then, with mounting curiosity, they watched Raion, widely known within his family and friends of being a bit of a bad boy with a velvet smile and devil-may-care attitude, soften and respond to the beauty in his embrace. And they continued to watch because of the smooth, seamless way they moved together, like two opposing forces drawn together. He the Dark Prince, cloaked in his father's shadow of legacy and she a brilliant beam of sunshine, a Bella Donna of elegance and class.

And not a soul interrupted them, their spectators gossiping, laughing and whispering yet hardly daring to breathe the wrong way lest such a delicate combination shatter like fine crystal.

The world had narrowed down to the two of them as they danced, and Eevee forgot about everyone else on that ship. Their dancing was so in tune that it was effortless, and she could direct all of her attention on him. A blush stole over her features at his praise, and she shook her head at him, but didn't comment. Inside, her heart had leapt at his words, and the feel of his cheek brushing against hers.

"Well, I'm glad that such things as the Pirate Ball exist in this world...as much as I hated being a noble, I did enjoy balls," she told him with an excited smile. "I especially love seeing how each person decided to express themselves in fancy garments as opposed to their normal wear." He spun her away until she reached the limit of his arm, where she was tugged to a stop for one weightless moment before she was wound back in to the circle of his arms. At this part of the dance, she came to rest with her back to his chest, facing away from him. It gave her the chance to sweep her eyes over the crowd, many of which, to her startling realization, were watching them with great interest.

Throughout the ball, she'd made it a point to see every person she'd become acquainted with over the last two days because of this interest to see what they would look like in gown or tux. She realized though, that there was one person she hadn't seen. Rouge's mother, Mara, was absent. She frowned a little, because she'd really wanted to see what the blond woman was going to look like in a gown, fascinated as she was by how the woman moved. Dahlia had informed her that Mara had eaten the mizu mizu no mi, and so was made of water, which explain the surreal grace she had. Wearing a gown, Eevee had been sure she'd be positively ethereal.

But she wasn't here, the only one out of the Strawhats' friends and family. Eevee also knew that it wasn't that she just hadn't seen her yet, Eevee _knew_ that she wasn't on this ship at all, though she didn't know how she knew that.

Raion gently pushed her out from his chest into another twirl, but now he pulled her back in so that she faced him once more. Her hand returned to his shoulder and she tilted her head back to look up into his handsome face. "Raion, where is Ms. Mara? She isn't here tonight..."

Raion's anxiety peaked when Eevee came back into his arms and asked her question. Mara wasn't here, of course. She was with Ace because everyone had felt terribly guilty about leaving him all alone. He didn't think that anyone would notice her absence, honestly. The Ball was too exciting and Mara was an innocuous enough character that she was unlikely to be missed as opposed to say, Luffy or something.

Apparently, Eevee noticed. He shouldn't have been surprised, really. She was quite observant.

"She's not feeling well," he replied offhandedly as they danced across the floor, "She's resting in her tent. She might join us for the after party though, if she's feeling up to it," the excuse came out smooth as silk. Like his mother, Raion had an aptitude for lying and deception if he needed it. Unfortunately in his house, Luffy had an affinity for sensing lies and tall tales. He didn't get away with it much as a child.

The music shifted again and automatically, he changed pace to match the rhythm. He realized with a flush that he'd kept hold of her for something like three songs already. He glanced around and his ears pinked as it seemed like everyone was watching him. Rouge and Lukas were talking and sneaking glances at them. So were his parents. And Sabo and Dahlia. Margherita was gossiping with his sister and her friends and the snake girl's yellow eyes were following him and Eevee.

What the hell? Were they watching him or were they watching her? He tried to tell himself that they had to be watching her; her dancing was beautiful and sophisticated. But he had a feeling in his stomach that they were watching him too and he didn't like it.

For some reason, Eevee knew he was lying. His words sounded sincere and truthful, but they were a lie, and they made her chest constrict because she didn't like the fact that he was lying to her. Her eyes narrowed just the slightest bit, but she smiled and nodded anyways, deciding that now wasn't the time to confront him about his lie.

She was starting to become unnerved by these hunches she was getting. Ever since the storm, she could _feel_ that certain things were true. She was becoming more and more aware of her surroundings and the people around her, and she wasn't looking or studying them any more than usual. What could it mean...? She resolved to ask Raion or Sabo later, once everything had calmed down and their pirate life returned to normal.

She let out a little sigh and put her troubling thoughts from her mind. Her focus returned to Raion, and she realized, with a start, that the music was different. She'd shifted her dancing with him without even thinking about it, so in tune to his body movements-and so used to dancing to different types of music-that she'd shifted automatically to the new music.

A blush stole over her features, and she wondered what everyone must be thinking, that they had danced for as long as they did. What did it mean, that he hadn't stopped their dancing? His lying was temporarily forgotten as her heart warmed. She liked dancing with him, and she was happy to have a reprieve from "teaching" as she'd been doing all night.

Eevee opened her mouth to say somethin to him when the music abruptly stopped. For three seconds after, they continued dancing, as if the two of them had some silent music they danced to. When they finally stopped, she turned her face towards the band, and saw that a tall skeleton had taken the stage, and cheers were going up around the dance floor.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's about time that we spiced this night up with a little music from yours truly and Monkey D. Raion! Yohohoho!" Brook announced with a wide grin, a guitar in his bone hands.

Raion heard his name through the microphone and barely had time to register that Brook was asking him to come up on the stage when there was a shout across the ship.

"HELL YA! RAION!" it was Luffy, arms in the air, looking like every single nerve in his body was pumped full of excitement.

He laughed at his father and winked at Eevee, "Guess it's time to make some music..." he grinned at her, brushed his mouth over her knuckles like he was a perfect gentleman and wove through the crowd of people. He jumped up onto the stage with ease and peeled himself out of his jacket. He tossed it into the growing crowd, where a gaggle of girls squealed and started a little mini-tug-of-war for the garment. He chuckled as one girl managed to grab it and shrug into it before someone could steal it from her.

His skeleton teacher came over and they quietly discussed what song they were going to do while Raion rolled up his sleeves to his elbows and adjusted his tie. Brook's suggestion for a tune made him laugh. It was a good one, a pirate song that Brook had written years ago and it was quite... befitting, to the young Pirate Prince who was about the sing it.

He grabbed the mic and tapped it with his finger to test it. He loved to sing and perform, but there was rarely an opportunity to do it on a stage. It was majority consensus in his family that he had a wonderful singing voice, a smooth tenor, perfect for rock and roll.

"This one is my mother's favorite..." he said, grinning wildly and pointing at Nami, "Because she had to raise a hellion like me," she laughed and waved like it was nothing.

The first chords to the song began and Raion counted a beat, his eyes flickering through the crowd. He caught Eevee watching and his grin widened. This one was for her, definitely.

" _Girl, you never known no one like me,_ _"_ he pointed to her as the crowd cheered, _"_ _Up there in your high society,_ _"_ he leveled off his hand above his head, miming the words, _"_ _They might tell you I_ _'_ _m no good, but girl they need to understand just who I am. I may be a real bad boy... but baby I_ _'_ _m a real good man._ _"_

Several girls squealed right in the front of the stage and Raion saw Margherita and Rouge's faces go huge and swivel their heads back and forth between him and Eevee. Whatever.

" _I may drink too much and play too loud. Hang out with a rough and rowdy crowd,_ _"_ all the pirates, males and females, cheered extra loud, _"_ _But that don_ _'_ _t mean I don_ _'_ _t respect my momma or the Pirate King,_ _"_ Luffy waved and gave him a thumbs up, _"_ _I may be a real bad boy. But baby I_ _'_ _m a real good man._ _"_

The music sped up, Brook going crazy on the guitar and Raion put the mic back in the stand, _"_ _I might have a reckless streak a least an ocean mile wide. If you_ _'_ _re gonna run with me it_ _'_ _s gonna be a wild ride. When it comes to lovin_ _'_ _you, I_ _'_ _ve got velvet hands,_ _"_ he gestured like he was contouring the curves of a woman, _"_ _And I_ _'_ _ll show you how a real bad boy can be a real good man._ _"_

He swept up the mic again and jumped off the stage. The crowd naturally parted for him, in reality too anxious to get that close to him, but girls reached their hands out anyway like they could touch him and he brushed their hands with his his feet taking him towards one woman in particular.

" _I take all the good times I can get. I_ _'_ _m too young for growing up just yet,_ _"_ He reached her, ten feet from her with not a soul between them, like the space around them had suddenly become the stage, _"Ain'_ _t much I can promise you, except to do the best I can,_ _"_ he walked towards hers and stopped, giving her a blatant once over. Girls nearby swooned, _"I'_ _ll be damned. I may be a real bad boy. But baby I_ _'_ _m a real good man,_ _"_ in front of her and he brushed his hand over her cheek, _"_ _I may be a real bad boy... oh, but baby I_ _'_ _m a real good man... yes I am..._ _"_

He gave her a wicked grin and then turned on his heel and headed back to the stage, his body moving in time to the rocking guitar solo Brook was performing. He jumped back up and by the time he got the mic back in the stand, the last chords were ringing out and he played the air drums with his hands, the crowd cheering like mad.

Even most nobles knew who Brook was because of his famous music, and when it became apparent that he was going to perform for the ship, her stomach tightened in excitement. She'd never been allowed to go to any of Brook's concerts because the music was considered too rough for a 'lady' like herself. Add Raion into the performance, and her heart was already beating faster.

At first she feared that she would be swept up into another dance by one of the eager men who'd surrounded them during her dance with Raion, but it seemed that everyone's attention had turned to the stage for the performance, and Eevee more than happy to do the same. She hadn't heard Raion sing much, and she was eager to become more familiar with his voice.

The first few chords rang in her blood, like all music did, and she felt a smile tugging at her lips at all of the females near the stage going wild. They even fought over his jacket, and when one girl finally won and shrugged into it, Eevee felt an uncomfortable tightening of her veins. Wearing a man's jacket seemed very intimate, for some reason, and she didn't want _this_ girl to be wearing Raion's. Her jealousy, though, was quickly forgotten when Raion's voice starting ringing from the speakers.

He had a lovely voice, a manly tenor that made her shiver. What was more, he was pointing right at _her_ as he sang. Her eyes widened and heat stole into her face. He was singing this song for her?

As she listened to the words, it became apparent how apt the words were for their situation. When he got to the point where he spoke about his "velvet hands," Eevee had to cover her face with her own hands, the memory of the night before too fresh in her mind.

There was a sharp rise in the cheers, and Eevee pulled her hands away from her face to see that Raion had jumped off the stage, and was walking straight her way. She felt rooted to the spot, staring at his encroaching form with wide violet eyes. She couldn't move, couldn't _breathe_ , as he continued to sing in his amazing voice, giving her a once over and brushing his hand over her cheek. Her shocked expression remained in place even after he turned back to the stage and headed back. Only when he was back on the stage did she let her breath out in a rush, feeling freed from a spell.

Suddenly, Dahlia was right next to her, and Eevee started a little at her appearance. The dark-skinned woman smiled ruefully at her, and patted her on the shoulder. "He has that affect on people, cherie."

Eevee's eyes flickered to the other girls going wild over him, and nodded dumbly at the statement.

Dahlia studied for her a moment, then flickered her gaze up to Raion, and back. "Are you in love with him?" she asked shrewly, and when Eevee's surprised eyes flashed to Dahlia's face, then skirted away, Dahlia nodded slowly, not needing words to confirm her suspicion.

"Raion is a playboy, you know. I don't say this to try and wedge anything between you too, cherie, but I tell you to warn you. He will break your heart, if you do not safeguard it, yes?" Dahlia said, her voice solemn. "You are too nice of a girl for me not to warn you about his history of women."

Eevee felt her chest tightening, reminded about what Margherita and Rouge had said earlier. However, they'd said that he treated her different...Eevee opened her mouth to say as much, and Dahlia held up a hand, shaking her head. "You don't need to say anything. I just felt that you needed to know. Just be cautious with your heart, cherie."

Dahlia gave her a smile, another pat on the shoulder, then headed over to Sabo, who was watching them curiously. Eevee watched as they two took each others hands, unsure how Dahlia's warning was supposed to make her feel.

She didn't have time to think about it, though, because Sanji suddenly appeared at her side, clear determination in his eyes. "Luffy got to dance with you twice, and Raion claimed three songs. I would like another one too, beautiful schwan!" he exclaimed, holding out his hand gallantly. Eevee couldn't help but smile as his pouting face, and nodded to him in response, slipping her hand into his. She'd have to ponder Dahlia's words later.

Sabo was never far from Dahlia. It happened when you didn't see each other for month on end. You tended to make the most of it. He'd disappeared for a minute at the tail end of Raion's musical number and when he came back, he saw his girl talking to Eevee. And something about the doctor looked... flushed and confused. Dahlia squeezed her shoulder and came back over to him.

He took her hands and kissed her face, "What lies are you feeding my nakama about me now?" he teased lightly in French.

She shrugged, "Just how much trouble you boys are," she replied innocently.

"Me? I'm no trouble. It's all Raion," he chuckled, turning his head to watch as he best friend got ready for another song, a wide, wild smile on his face reminiscent of his sire.

"I know," she said, grabbing his chin and squeezing his face together, "In all seriousness, my cherie, don't let him make a mess on your ship."

He rolled his clear blue eyes, "He always makes a mess. What's makes you think this time will be different? I'll be cleaning up after him as usual." he loved Raion and had long since accepted his many flaws. Even embraced a few.

Dahlia's gold eyes flickered over to Eevee as Sanji swept her up in another dance, "Does she have any idea what she's getting into?"

Sabo made a face, "I should hope so..." it went unsaid that he doubted it.

The Pirate Ball went considerably later than it normally did. People just kept showing up, pirates trickling in from around the area, people from the Kingdom and the village flooding in. It was close to midnight before Loo Bear and his staff finally cut them all off. Everyone breathless from dancing and laughing, headed back up to the clearing near Garp's to continue the party.

Somehow, there was even more sake. Barrels upon barrels were hauled up to the clearing. Where it all came from, no one was really sure. A little from each of the ships, some from Makino's store room, personal stores, wherever. It came from somewhere.

With massive amounts of panic and flushed anxiety, Raion had enlisted Franky's help in carting the old piano from Party's Bar up to the clearing. The cyborg used one of his fancy machines from the Sunny's Soldier Dock System.

"Don't _drop_ it!" Raion flinched as the instrument swung, in his opinion, precariously. Half of his face was covered with one hand as if he couldn't bear to watch in case disaster struck but at the same time, he had to supervise.

"OW! Raion-little-bro, I got this!" Franky assured him with a laugh. The captain counted his blessings that this wasn't _his_ piano, at least.

Still, he needed a large, stiff drink after it was settled safely on the grass in the clearing.

A huge bonfire was roaring in the dark, even bigger than it had been the previous night. Tables were everywhere, though, Sabo was in the process of dragging a few together to assemble a makeshift stage. Zoro and Nami had literally taken a whole keg to themselves and were trying to drink each other under the table, a small crowd gathering around them to cheer them on.

The younger girls - Belle, her friends, Zoro's twins Lulana Jace and Kuina, and Cerise and Margherita - had started a game of volleyball, which was turning into a drinking game at the suggestion of Jacie. Jacie was just like Zoro and Kuina just like her mother.

"RAION!" he swiveled around to see Rouge standing on the table, still wearing her slinky dress from earlier despite that most everyone had changed into civilian/pirate clothes, "I DEMAND MUSIC OF THE HIGHEST QUALITY!"

He laughed, "Alright! I'm coming..."

By the time he settled at the piano, his cousin had been joined by Mara - who was apparently "feeling better" - and Tikka. The three ladies were well-known for their grace and dance and as he started rocking the first chords of Binks, they linked arms and started dancing.

Within minutes, Brook had joined him on the violin and half the crowd was singing at the top of their lungs, everyone with a mug of something to drink. It was shaping up to be a fantastic party.

When the Pirate Ball had drawn to a close, Eevee had joined Margherita in changing into a less formal outfit; for Margherita, she simply didn't want to be in a dress any longer than she had to be, and for Eevee, she didn't want her lovely gown to get ruined. They changed back into the clothes they'd had on before, then went to join everyone else at the "after" party.

A huge bonfire was already roaring by the time they got there, and a piano was just being settled. Excitement was buzzing around the field, and Eevee found herself grinning with anticipation. She knew that pirates were rowdy partiers, from her own experience even, but she was looking forward to partying with _these_ pirates in particular. She'd always heard stories about the epic parties that the Strawhat Pirates threw back in their hayday. They'd practically been legendary.

Margherita went to find them some drinks, and Eevee's eyes were drawn to Garp's cabin, not too far off from the party. With the same aggravating intuition she seemed to be having lately, she had a feeling that someone was in that cabin. Oh! Mara wasn't feeling good. She was likely resting in the cabin.

It was still extremely odd that she felt like she knew someone was in that cabin, but she couldn't dismiss it like she had before. More than once, her new 'hunches' seemed to be right, and she felt them more strongly every day, especially when she focused on them.

Maybe she would bring it up with Raion or Sabo tomorrow, she reasoned with herself. If anyone knew why she felt this way, they likely would.

Margherita returned with two mugs, and Eevee accepted one with a smile and a quick thanks. Music started to play, and she looked over to see Raion a the piano. Three people were dancing on a table, and she moved a little closer to see who they were as everyone started singing the lyrics to a popular pirate song.

Rouge, Tikka...and Mara.

Eevee stopped, blinking. Frowning a little, she turned her head to look at Garp's cabin. Mara wasn't in there? She looked back, taking a slow drink of her sake as she mulled these thoughts over. Mara was clearly right in front of her, which meant her hunch about someone being in that cabin...Was it wrong?

Suddenly, she had to know. These damned hunches had been confusing her ever since she started having them. With a slow glance around the party, she could account for every Strawhat and family member, and she didn't think anyone else would go into the cabin. So...if she went to investigate, and found it empty, she knew she was crazy and making things up in her mind, but if it wasn't...then she knew her hunches were more than just hunches. Something had to be going on with her.

Eevee glanced over at Margherita, and the girl was belting out the lyrics of the song loudly and rambunctiously, joined by a boy and a girl she didn't know, likely village folk or other pirates. She gave a little wave to her nakama, indicating that she'd be back, and stole away from the pirate.

It was slow moving at first, because every person she passed wanted to talk to her, cheers with her, or asked her to sing with them. Eventually, though, she managed to detangle herself and headed for the cabin, hoping the darkness of the edge of the party would conceal her movements.

She got to the door, and paused, her heart suddenly hammering in her chest. Whoever was in the cabin...their presence felt very...powerful, for some reason. She had a moment of second thoughts, pulling her hand away. But the need to prove herself right or wrong stayed strong, so she squared her shoulders, opened the door, and stepped inside.

"Hello...?" she called, peering around. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the right, a kitchen, when a figure moved suddenly, as if to leave the room. She caught sight of him, though, and said, "Wait, who-"

The man spun around to face her, brows drawn into a frown over dark, surprised eyes. A hat rested on his head, and he was shirtless, exposing massive muscles and a scar in the center of his chest. There was light coming through the window he'd been standing by, and it fell across his startled face to reveal freckles and long-ish dark hair.

She knew that face. She knew it because she'd read every news article that existed about the Strawhats and Monkey D. Luffy.

She was staring at Portgas D. Ace.

Her mouth dropped in surprise and her eyes widened. Disbelief held her tongue for all of one minute, and the man's face betrayed his thoughts as he debated bolting, then decided the damage was done already.

"You...you're Portgas D. A-" Eevee exclaimed, a hand raised and a finger pointing directly at the man. Her words, however, were cut off when a hand suddenly slammed over her mouth, and another one came over her eyes. She'd been so shocked she hadn't realized the door had opened behind her. She could hear quickened breaths, as if the person behind her had been running.

"Don't. Say. That." the words were ground out by her ear in a tense voice, and she was startled to realize...they belonged to Sabo.

Something everyone should know about Sabo.

Sabo was a bit of a Black Sheep in his family. He didn't have a devil fruit. He didn't seem to have an affinity for Haki. He couldn't claim a powerful lineage. He was just yet another nameless pirate among a slew of many. It couldn't even be said that he preferred it that way. It had become necessary to maintain his anonymity since the very idea of his conception. Therefore, it was preferable because it was a necessity and because the alternative was far to ghastly to imagine.

Sabo had been content this way for years, after all, the people who knew who he was and his father's status were far and few between and they were the people that mattered.

This changed slightly after Lukas was introduced. Sabo could even recall the very moment his feeling on the subject matter changed. On the Sunny-Go, returning from Impel Down, when less than a half a mile out from his island Ace had blown a column of fire in anger. Sabo at one turn had been terrified his father was going to kill him, but seeing Lukas's face as the man connected the dots had been... thrilling. It had given Sabo a spark of guilty pleasure to introduce someone to the secret cult of knowledge that a piece of the history textbooks was wrong. That Portgas D. Ace was alive, breathing and thriving in isolation. And he not only had a daughter, but a son as well.

Sabo was singing loudly and proudly to the lyrics of Binks no Sake as Raion and Brook played. It was the high of life, nothing beat the adrenaline rush of a good pirate party at its very finest.

He took a sip from his tankard of sake, eyes drifting around the crowd, taking it all in, when movement caught his attention.

Up by the house, someone was entering the front door.

It was Eevee.

Rarely did Sabo feel panic to such a degree as he did in that moment. Suffocating, hot, dizzying. But because he was always calm and collected, a trait he'd inherited from his malleable mother, he was the picture of ease as he placed his mug on the table and smoothly walked to the edge of the circle of the light created by the bonfire. Once he hit the shadows, he booked it like the seven hounds of hell were licking his heels.

He burst in the front door and barely took the time to process the situation, his father standing shocked in the dim light of the kitchen and Eevee's eyes round as saucers as four damning words threatened to spill from her lips. He was behind her in a second, clapping one hand over her mouth and the other over her eyes.

"Don't. Say. That." he growled in warning, "There are people outside with very sensitive hearing."

He turned his eyes up to his father. Ace's expression was apparent. The damage had been done. She'd seen what she'd seen and there was nothing to it now.

And that little thrill of excitement raced through him at the thought of initiating another person into the cult. Just enough that he stopped feeling at least suffocated by his panic.

"I trust you didn't turn on any lights or anything to attract attention to yourself?" Sabo asked, talking over Eevee's head, but not releasing her.

Ace gave him a look that had a chuckle escaping him. "I thought she was your mother, actually, at first," the fire man said, his voice low, "Her footsteps were light enough. Who is she?"

"Nakama," Sabo supplied, then sighed, "Well... what do you think?"

His father gave his answer by striding through the house and closing all the curtains. Then, he turned on the soft lamp in the living room, "Might as well make nice, right?"

Sabo agreed, feeling that thrum through him again. Carefully, he turned Eevee around and guided her into the living room, "Don't freak out," he told her, slowly releasing her eyes, but not her mouth, "He's very real and he's very alive."

"Yo!" Ace greeted, grinning, sticking two fingers up in greeting.

At that moment, Raion chose to burst through the door. Sabo turned his head around and watched as rapid understanding bloomed on his captain's face, flirting for first place with anger and panic. He lurched forward and slapped a hand over her eyes again.

"What the hell is going on here?" he demanded in a low hiss, his dark eyes flickering from Ace to Sabo to Eevee and then back through the rotation one more time, "Why is she in here?"

"I don't know," Sabo answered, talking over Eevee's head again at Raion, his hand on her mouth still and Raion's over her eyes.

"Did you bring her in here?" he growled, "Are you trying to satisfy your irrational need for acceptance?"

"No!" Sabo replied tartly, making a face.

"Then what the hell is she doing here?"

"Why don't you just ask her?" Ace interrupted, cocking a brow.

"Shut up, Ace/Dad," Raion and Sabo turned and said to him at the same time before turning back to each other again. Ace flipped his hands up and dropped his long body onto the couch.

"What should we do with her?" Sabo wondered.

"Desert her on an island?" Raion suggested.

"I was thinking more like swear her to secrecy, but you're the captain..."

"Well, I don't really wanna kill her..." Raion made a face.

"That escalated quickly..." Sabo said plainly, cocking a blonde brow, "Killing her is senseless, we need a doctor."

"Boys!" Ace's voice cut over their conversation sharply, "For fuck's sake, you're scaring the poor girl," he stood and took two steps and yanked her out of their grip, "I'm Ace," he greeted, dropping his body a little to be at eye level with her, "And don't listen to them. Nothing's gonna happen to you."

Just then, the back door opened, "Oi!" Luffy called quietly, "What's going on in here?" he appeared and stopped dead, his eyes flickering around, then pointed at Eevee, "She's not supposed to be in here..." he hedged slowly, like he wasn't quite understanding yet.

Raion rolled his eyes, "No shit, Dad," he sighed, "We're figuring out what to do now."

"Why is she in here anyway?" Luffy asked, then turned to Sabo, "Did you bring her in?"

The blonde man threw his hands up, "Why does everything think it's my fault here?"

"Neither of these knuckleheads have bothered to even ask her why she came in," it was Ace's turn to roll his eyes.

"Well then, why are you here?" Luffy asked the obvious question.

"That's not what's important!" Raion said, hauling her back over to him. He grabbed her chin gently in his hand, "Listen," he said, looking her straight in the eye, "These two men right here," he pointed to Sabo and Ace, "No one, and I mean absolutely no one is allowed to know about them," his tone wasn't anger or mad, but very serious and grave, "The consequences of their identity are too gruesome to describe. The calamity that the Marines would bring down on us would make the last war look like a fucking joke. The very reason I breathe on this earth is to make sure nothing, I mean nothing, happens to him," he pointed to Sabo. Ace and Luffy nodded seriously.

"Basically," Sabo said with a shrug. Raion was making this sound oh so serious. He was right, but it was a little unnecessary, "You're one of us now and if you tell anyone, there will be no one to protect you from us." he grinned.

Luffy laughed, "This is all so exciting."

At first, Eevee was too shocked to be able to say anything, even without Sabo's hand over her mouth and eyes. As she recovered, though, she started to become annoyed, first with Sabo and then with Raion, who she managed to catch a brief glance of before he covered her eyes too. Exasperation filled her, not fear, when the two began discussing what they were going to _do_ with her. She knew, somehow, that they would never really hurt her.

Sure, it was a big deal...no...it was a VERY BIG deal, that Fire Fist Ace was alive, but now that she'd gotten over the shock, she was happy and _excited_ more than anything. She'd read a lot about Portgas D. Ace and had always lamented the fact that she'd never be able to meet him, even if she became a pirate. Now...he was standing not ten feet from her.

The bickering that was happening over her head between Raion and Sabo continued, and Eevee was just contemplating biting Sabo when suddenly she was ripped free from their grips. She might have stumbled, but the hands gripping her shoulders were strong and firm, and she found herself facing Fire Fist Ace, so close she could practically smell the fire-ember scent that came off of him.

She opened her mouth to return a greeting, giddiness starting to fill her veins, when another voice interrupted her. She turned her head to see Luffy come in. About to greet both Luffy and Ace, Eevee found herself once more tugged back over to Raion, where he gripped her chin and leveled a stern stare at her, explaining the seriousness of the situation.

Which she'd already figured out.

Finally, she'd had enough.

Eevee thrust his hand away from her chin and stepped back from him, whirling around to face Luffy and Ace. "Alright, alright! I got it! I'm not an idiot, _Senchou_ ," she turned her head and said pointedly to Raion, her voice filled with exasperation. She turned her head to look at Sabo, lifting a hand to point at his chest. "You're father is Fire Fist Ace, and your age betrays the fact that he is still alive, which is why your _sister_ , Rouge, can be known as his daughter because she was conceived before his death." Her words held an edge to them that betrayed her earlier frustration as they bickered over her. She paused, and a little smile tugged at the corner of her lips. "I just _knew_ there was more between you and Rouge...I never would have guess that you were siblings, because that seemed impossible...but I just _knew_ that you two were connected somehow..."

Her eyes slid back over to Ace, and awe filtered into her gaze and excitement trickled in to her voice. "And you...are a legend. I can't believe I'm meeting you! Of course I wouldn't tell anyone; I just left nobility to become a pirate, I'm not about to blow up my life's dream and one of my childhood heroes. I'm Burbanks Evelyn, it's so wonderful to meet you!" She gripped the hems of her long shirt/dress and held them outwards like it was a gown, and curtseyed as she would have if she were meeting another noble for the first time, so overcome with excitement that she forgot that pirates don't do that. When she straightened, she looked at Ace, then Luffy, and finally to Raion and Sabo. "I came in here because...well..."

She fell silent, her eyes flickering around the room as heat filtered in to her cheeks. Was she going to sound crazy?

Finally, her eyes settled on the ground and her fingers started winding nervously in her hair. "Maybe I'm crazy...but I _knew_ that there was someone in here. I just...had this feeling. Just like I knew that Sabo and Rouge weren't on the ship the morning I woke up and they had left...and I knew that yesterday, when..." her words faltered a moment, and she glanced at Luffy quickly, then back down at the ground, "I knew that after Monkey D. Garp died, that Luffy wasn't alone with him. I also knew that Mara wasn't at the Pirate Ball, and I knew before I had the chance to look around and see if she was or not. I just have been getting these hunches lately, ever since that storm... and I wanted to see if I was just crazy or if there actually _was_ someone in this cabin. I thought maybe that Mara would be in here, because that would make sense, why I thought there was someone in here...but then I saw her dancing outside, and...well...I came to find out why I thought there was someone in here." She finished with a lame little shrug, not daring to look up until someone said something.

He couldn't believe this was happening.

He'd been playing the piano, getting started on having himself a grand time drinking and partying, when he'd felt such a spike in panic from Sabo that he actually stopped playing for a heartbeat. The feeling had been so palpable that he had to work out whether it was his own panic or not. And when he'd realized it was Sabo and it was coming from the house, he'd asked Brook to take over and had beat feet over there.

He'd burst through the door... and there was Sabo and Ace-oji and... Eevee.

His first emotion had been confusion before it melted to anger then had been quickly replaced with panic then irritation. Just like he had no secrets from Sabo, Sabo had no secrets from him and Raion was very aware that a tiny little part of his best friend craved acceptance on a... public level. He got a spike of thrill to introduce himself to people, not just as Sabo the Pirate, but as Portgas Sabo, son of Fire Fist Ace.

It didn't happen very often. Rarely. Ever. So his first thought had been Sabo had done this on purpose, as some cock and bull attempt to integrate her deep into their world and get Raion to commit to her or something equally far-fetched.

Apparently not, as she shuffled her feet against the ground and twirled her hair over her shoulder and nervously explained her weird "hunches".

Huh. That sounded a lot like...

Luffy started to chuckle, "She has the Haki," he grinned, "Kenbushoku Haki; 'observation' haki. That's gotta be it."

"Really?" Raion furrowed his brows and cocked his head at her like he was studying her, "Are you certain?" his question was aimed for his father.

"We could do a little test to find out..." Luffy's grin turned a little maniacal.

"No." Raion put his foot down on that one, knowing exactly what 'test' the Pirate King had in mind.

"C'mon, it's not so bad."

"You blindfolded me and hit me with a baseball bat repeatedly." Raion gave his father a droll look, "I have dents in my cranium thanks to you."

"You hit your son with a baseball bat?" Ace cocked a brow at his brother.

Luffy chuckled and shrugged, "I had to know if he was just quick or reading moves ahead. Seemed like a good way to rule it out at the time."

Sabo, having been unusually quiet up to this point, finally rubbed his chin in thought, "Come to think of it," he hedged, "Lukas' mother has Kenbunshoku Haki and to hear him talk about it, it's strictly a sensitivity to people and emotions. She can't predict a punch, but she can tell you the gender of a woman's baby mere weeks into a pregnancy, long before any doctor can. It might be a stroke of excellent luck for a doctor to develop the same sensitivity."

Raion chewed that around in his head, then turned to Eevee, "How many people are outside?" he asked her.

"Ooh! Ooh! I know!" Luffy raised his hand and waved it wildly around, "Pick me!"

"I didn't ask you, baka." Raion scolded, "I know you know."

"That's too easy," Sabo crossed his arms over his chest, "She can just list the people in her head," he narrowed his blue eyes in thought, "Gotta give her something medical..." he snapped his fingers, "I have an old injury on my body somewhere. What can you tell me about it?" he asked her.

"She isn't going to get that." Raion told him.

"She hasn't seen it?" Ace asked.

Sabo shook his head, "I don't make a point of walking around the ship naked."

"Ooh! Ooh! I know! I know this one too!" Luffy waved his hand again, "Pick me!"

Haki...? Eevee frowned, looking around the room. All eyes were on here, most intensively in fact, and she blushed a little. Her knowledge of haki was limited, but she knew that it normally manifested in powerful fighters, where their will becomes so strong it can take physical form and strike even logia type-users. Sabo had explained a little of it to her.

But...she most definitely wasn't strong. Still, what Sabo said about Gabbi's mother made sense: she'd only met the woman a few times, but she'd been eerily perceptive about Eevee, which made sense if she had this Observation Haki. She couldn't imagine that such a gentle woman was perticular strong, so it was possible that she, herself, could have a similar sense. She'd always been rather attuned to people's personality types; Gabbi had always said she'd had a good judge of character, even from her first meeting with someone.

So, hesitantly, she nodded and looked at Sabo, studying him. "I'll try, I suppose..." she murmured, her teeth worrying her bottom lip. She didn't quite understand what she was supposed to be looking for, and for a little while, her mind was completely blank, unsure what, exact, she was suppose to _do._

If she was supposed to use haki, and haki was the same thing as those hunches she'd been feeling...then perhaps she should seek out the feeling inside of her that she got when she felt these hunches. Her brow furrowed, and she realized it was a lot harder to _seek_ the feeling out that to feel it come to her without asking. Or perhaps she was asking the wrong way?

Eevee let out a little sound of frustration, and closed her eyes, unable to focus with all of their eyes on her. She almost told them she couldn't do it, that they had to be wrong; but she remembered her confusion over her hunches, and the way Luffy, and even Sabo, had looked hopeful when they looked at her...Having Haki would make her a bigger asset to her nakama. If she had it...then these were the men to discover it in her, and they were the ones to help her learn to use it better.

She took a deep breath, and cleared her mind of her doubts. She stopped thinking, and just let herself...feel. After a moment, like a slowly brighting light, she realized she had an impression of...heat. And pain. The sensations were like echoes in her mind like an old memory, and she realized that she'd had the faintest knowledge of them even before she'd tried to figure it out. It was like a butterfly's wings gently brushing against her mind; an awareness that something was there, and only with concentration had she picked up the _feelings_ that lay in them. It was like feeling a faint breeze, and only with an inhale did one scent what was on the wind.

There was another feeling brushing at her consciousness since the injury had been mentioned: guilt. She frowned, wondering why someone would feel guilty about being injured, and then she realized the feeling wasn't coming from Sabo. Somehow, it had a different _flavour_ to it than the feelings she felt from Sabo.

Her eyes flickered around the room, and finally landed on Ace. The feeling was coming from him...

Sabo had an injury that had something to do with intense heat, pain...and guilt from Ace. _Fire_ Fist Ace. Her brain connected the dots in a rush, and she gasped, her eyes flying back to Sabo from Ace, and at the sound, every man in the room was suddenly staring at her harder, anticipation on their faces.

"This sounds a little crazy to me...but...I think that you were burned. By your father...I don't know where or how badly or anything...but I can feel heat and pain coming from you when you think about it, and from Ace-sama..." her eyes flickered back to Ace, and she blushed a darker color. "A lingering guilt from you when Sabo mentioned the injury." She held her breath, waiting for the laughter to follow at her craziness.

The anticipation in the air was so tangible he could taste it. She glanced around at all of them, her nervousness evident. Well, they were putting her on the spot. But he had to know. If she had Haki, even just the Kenbinshoku Haki... the fighting capabilities they could train her to do were endless. He would have to train her; no one else had Haki on the crew - though he kept hopefully waiting for Sabo to develop it, though it was unlikely - and he was kinda excited to have that one to one time with her. Not that he wanted to swing a baseball bat at her head or anything...

She closed her eyes and her face pinched in concentration. He held his breath. Minutes dragged on. It was too hard. She wasn't gonna get it. Pinning down the residual feelings from an old injury? That wasn't necessarily the easiest thing to ask of her. Though it was certainly a sure-fire way to determine if she had Haki...

She gasped and her violet eyes flew open. There was a collective tensing in the group. Luffy and Sabo practically leaned forward on their toes, like birds about to take flight. Ace had a little furrow nestled between his eyebrows.

And then... she nailed it. Not perfectly, but she fucking got it and he grinned and Sabo started to laugh.

"That's fantastic!" Sabo exclaimed and he pulled up his shirt and tugged the hem of his shorts down just a little, "You're right!"

Raion almost didn't remember a time before the scar marred the left side of Sabo's torso. It had been a training accident just after the break in at Impel Down. No one was sure of exactly why it had happened because Ace was anal retentive in controlling his devil fruit abilities when sparring with his children. It was a classic 'wrong place, wrong time' situation that ended up with Ace nailing Sabo in the hip with a fist of white-hot flames that had resulted in violent second-degree burns and months of surgeries. The scar was expansive and terrible, like Luffy and Ace's chest scars. It spread from Sabo's rib cage down the left side of his body, over his hip and flank and the upper reaches of his thigh. He'd have to get naked to see the whole thing.

"It was a training accident," Ace said, his face a little tight, "We're lucky I didn't kill him."

Sabo dropped his shirt and waved away Ace's comment, "I wasn't gonna die from a burn. Infection and transplant rejection, however, that was a very real possibly."

His father rubbed his hand over his face.

Luffy laughed, "I hit my kid with baseball bats, you burn yours with fire. We're good parents," if anyone else had said that, their tone would have dripped sarcasm. Coming from the Pirate King sounded like he was just rationalizing that beating your children made them good strong men.

The Pirate King pointed at Eevee, "You know what this means, right?" he waggled his eyebrows and grinned wildly, "Raion gets to beat you silly to train you!" he steepled his hands and tapped his fingers together conspiratorially.

Raion rolled his eyes.

Upon seeing the burn scar on Sabo's side, her eyes widened and a hand went to cover her mouth. Her gaze flickered up to Sabo's expression, and it mirrored the feeling she got from him about his injury: he had no lingering regret about it, nor any ill will towards his father. Her eyes bounced between Ace and Sabo for a second, then landed on Luffy when he made his carefree comment about being great parents.

She stared dumbly at him for a second, hoping he was kidding, but getting the distinct impression he most certainly was _not_.

She turned to Raion and shook her head slowly at him. "You both must have had a very interesting childhood... _vastly_ different from mine. The only beatings I got as a child were raps on my shins for not having my legs in the proper position for ballet." She drew in a deep breath, her eyes falling down to her own hands, "I can't believe I have Haki...this feels like a dream." She was staring at her hands as if the haki she possessed was within them, disbelief evident on her features. But she couldn't deny the fact that her hunches had been _real_ : Ace was proof of that.

Just then, there was a loud boom outside and a sudden brightness filtered through the curtains as the fire got unnaturally bright for a moment, then dimmed back down. A roar of laughter echoed from the field where the party was in process. Clearly, it was starting to get very interesting.

"Oooy!" Luffy said excitedly, immediately distracted from their conversation as his wide, eager eyes flew to the door. "I bet Franky and Usopp are playing with fire and lazers again!"

Eevee couldn't help it; she giggled at the child-like excitement that was evident in every line of his body. She figured it was about time to get back to the party; people were going to start wondering where they were soon. Her eyes flickered over to Ace, though, when she realized he would have to stay here all alone.

"We should probably get back before our absence is missed," Sabo said slowly, but he glanced at his father with a somewhat pained expression at his words.

Eevee frowned, not liking that thought. How lonely it must be, to know that your very existence can't be known by most people for fear that you and your whole family would be put in grave danger.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. She whirled around to face the bare-chested man, and grinned, "Hey! Do you want to come party with us?"

Every single person in the room frowned at her, and she could _feel_ the spike of anger that went through Sabo and Raion, thinking she was teasing Ace. Her smile stayed in place though, and she held up her hands, gesturing towards her face and the makeup she wore. "I can disguise you. For some of my dance performances, we had so much makeup on and in such a way that it was impossible to tell who we were! I could make you unrecognizable very easily."

Ace's eyes widened, and Luffy blinked, looking between the two with confusion plain on his face. "Are you joking?" Ace asked with a frown, but Eevee shook her head, and his gaze flickered towards the covered windows, and yearning simmered in his eyes. "Are you sure...?"

Eevee's grin widened, and she nodded vigorously, glancing at Sabo. "How about it? Will you let me make-up your dad so he can join us?"

Sabo was staring at her, his mouth slightly open, and Eevee felt a pang in her chest at the feeling she got from him. It was a hesitant hope that slowly grew brighter into joy as a smile spread across his face. "Make him as girly as possible, please."

Eevee chuckled, and Ace's face broke out into a grin as Luffy laughed loudly.

Being the fastest, Sabo was responsible for fetching her make-up bag from the ship. After a moment of hesitation, Luffy and Ace agreed to let her look through Garp's shirts to pick one out for Ace to wear. By the time Sabo returned, having not even broken a sweat from his sprint, Ace was dressed in a loose button-down shirt with the lapels turned up. Instead of his customary shorts, Eevee had convinced him to slip in to a pair of long black pants that were a little loose on his narrow hims, secured with a belt.

Sabo blew a whistle as he saw his father, and shook his head ruefully as he handed the make-up bag to Eevee. "Pops, I don't think I've ever seen you in a getup like that."

"That's the point," Eevee pointed out with a smile, unzipping her bag. After a moment of peering inside to see what she had to work with, she looked up at Ace...and grinned. The man shifted a little uncomfortably, and glanced at her bag.

"If you put lipstick on me, I might just burn that bag of yours to bits," the dark-haired ex-pirate warned her, his black eyes glittering with malicious intent as he glared at the bag.

Eevee laughed and shook her head. "Don't worry, you'll look great."

" _Fabulous_ , even," Sabo pipped in with a grin, and had to swiftly dodge a swipe his father took at him.

Half an hour later, the lot of them were walking out the front door, Ace last. He hesitated at the edge of the step, glancing out towards the rowdy party that was steadily becoming louder. The light of the bonfire fell on his face, and Eevee grinned, satisfied with the results of her careful work.

His freckles were gone, and his eyes were no longer black. He wore a pair of blue-colored contacts that she had only used once in a particular dance production. His hair remained black, but it was tied back at the base of his neck, and his hat was gone. Using foundation, highlights, and shadowing carefully, she'd subtly created the illusion that his face had different angles, with rounder cheeks and a softer look around his eyes. Rather than dashing and roguish, he now looked somewhat charming and gallant, the makeup around his eyes emphasizing the color and taking away from the harshness of his gaze. After looking at himself in the mirror, he'd turned to gaze at Eevee with awe in his gaze. Everyone had agreed that he didn't look like Fire Fist Ace at all anymore.

Outside, Eevee turned back towards the cabin, and beckoned with her hands. "Come on, _Jack._ It's time to party!" she encouraged, using the name they'd given him to go by while at the party. Taking a deep breath, the man nodded, and stepped out. With each step he took as they headed towards the massive bonfire, a grin grew bigger and bigger on his face.

As they met the edge of the party, Sanji, Lukas, and Zoro were playing a drinking game nearby. They looked up when Luffy, Sabo, Raion, Eevee, and 'Jack' passed, and hollered out a greeting.

"New friend?" Lukas asked, glancing at Ace. Then Lukas froze, and narrowed his eyes at him. Lukas, after all, had Haki, and was very familiar with his father-in-law. Lukas' eyes widened, and his face betrayed a mere moment of surprise before it was gone, and he smiled widely. "What's your name, stranger?" he asked, lifting his mug to his lips to take a large gulp of the beer inside.

Ace smiled back, and tipped his head, his hand lifting as if to go for his hat, before he smoothly slid his hand back over his hair instead, "The name's Jack. Nice to meet you!"

And with that, the party _truly_ began.


	11. Chapter 11

***** DISCLAIMER, PLEASE READ- A Pirate's Life for Me is the third (kinda fourth) published story in this One Piece Universe that I and Jesachi, u/711995/Jesachi, have written together. Many people really enjoyed the first one, The Way of the Sword and Rose, but Jesachi and I have moved on to other writing in our lives, and we don't think we're ever going to go back and edit these. Therefore, this is a WARNING that this story is completely UN-EDITED and also written as a roleplay between myself and Jesachi, so the point of view switches between the two main characters every now and then. If this bothers you, don't read it :) We are only publishing these because we thought our fans might want to see the direction we took with our One Piece Universe. I hope you enjoy! Raion and Eevee are an amazing couple, and Luffy's entire crew makes an appearance eventually :)**********

Only a few people recognized "Jack" for who he really was. Raion was surprised himself. Ace-oji did not look like Ace-oji anymore. It didn't even look like he was wearing makeup. The planes of his face and the way he had his hair and the outfit he had on combined for an effect so real-looking that it was eerie.

Usopp, Franky and Chopper had no idea, even though they'd all seen Ace many times. Nami had to ask Luffy. Tikka tried to ask Zoro, but the swordsman just shrugged, as ambivalent as ever. Rouge was downright pissed as she stormed up to them, obviously having smelled Ace but then stopped short when she got a look at his face. And of course, Raion, Sabo and Eevee all had wicked smirks on. Rouge played along, introduced herself to "Jack" and then walked away.

"This is what a ghost feels like..." Ace whispered, just low enough for Raion and Sabo to hear.

Sabo laughed and Raion grinned, watching the way that his best friend and his uncle interacted. He could feel Sabo's giddy excitement. It raced through him like oil, fueling him. He glanced back at Eevee, who'd stopped to talk to some people. His chest did that tightening thing like he couldn't breathe suddenly.

"Oooiiii..." Sabo drawled, his voice low, "Jack, buddy, you have a pretty admirer..."

All three men - Raion dragged his eyes off Eevee to follow Sabo's gaze - turned to watch Mara. She had been talking to Dahlia and Robin and Chopper, but she kept glancing their way, her face pinched in confusion. Then she'd get pulled into the conversation again, drinking from her pint, only for her blue eyes to trail back to the three of them and her head would slowly list to the side as she cocked it.

Raion chuckled, "She's confused," he offered, "Part of her recognizes you, but she feels..." he laughed again, "She feels guilty a little."

"She probably thinks she's oogling another man..." Sabo said.

Ace grinned and as soon as he did that, Mara was on her feet and walking over to them. Her steps were sure until she was about ten feet away, then she stopped and Raion felt her heart do a little stutter step in her chest before she came right over and slipped her arm into the crook of his elbow, "Hello, boys..." she greeted, staring at Ace, her blue eyes lighting over him, trying to track every detail, "Raion, my lovely nephew, who's your friend?" her fingers were digging into his arm and it was getting to be a little painful...

"This is Jack," he introduced, "Jack, this is my aunt Mara, the Dragon's mother."

Sabo was laughing so hard he had to walk away. Raion was grinning like crazy.

She knew it was Ace. She could just tell, by the way he walked, by the way he moved his hands when he spoke, the shape of his shoulders...

But he didn't _look_ like Ace. And of course, Ace wouldn't be here at this party anyway. He was in the house. She was being ridiculous, obviously. She turned back to her companions, to try and follow the conversation. Her eyes drifted back to the stranger who looked so like her husband. No way. It had to be Ace. The dark hair that fell into his eyes- despite that it was pulled back - his height, identical to Sabo's, the shape of his mouth, breadth of his shoulders, his hips, his damn hands...

What if it wasn't? She flushed slightly and averted her eyes again, a little hot with guilt. She should go check on Ace.

Once again, her eyes fell back to the new person and she realized that her son, her nephew and he were all looking at her. The stranger grinned and she knew it then. No one else had such a smile that he passed onto their two children. Wicked, devious, filled with oodles of criminal mischief that stopped the hearts of males and females alike.

"Excuse me a second..." she muttered to Robin, Dahlia and Chopper and she walked over to the group. She paused ten paces out as she got a closer look at his face. Blue eyes. Blue? Handsome features, no freckles. Was she being silly?

She slipped her hand into Raion's elbow and he introduced them, her eyes studying the stranger's face. It was eerie. It had to be Ace. But it wasn't, at the same time. She was tempted to reach out and touch his face to confirm the shape of it.

When her son walked away, laughing, her adrenaline spiked and the man grabbed her hand and brushed his mouth against her knuckles and then he spoke and she knew.

"Nice to meet you, Mara. I'm Jack."

She forgot how to breath and didn't even notice that she was gripping Raion's arm so hard he winced, "Jack..." she whispered, "I think - I think we're going to get along just fine."

He grinned and her heart jackhammered against her ribs. So this was what it must feel like to fall in love with your husband all over again.

The party continued at a rampant pace. Everything got louder and more rowdy as more alcohol was consumed. His mother had once again, tried to drink Zoro under the table and the two of them were sitting propped against the empty barrel of sake. Nami was sleeping on Zoro's shoulder. Margherita had already gotten into a fight with some people and Chopper had treated them for poisonous scratches. Sabo was shit-faced, sprawled over the top of Raion's piano, singing. Dahlia kept trying to get him to eat something other than her face every time she walked by. Rouge and "Jack" were having an arm-wrestling match, Rouge in her half-form. It was a damn good thing she was fire-proof because Ace was starting to smoke to which Mara and Lukas declared it was done. A massive game of beer-pong was being played with the empty sake barrels. And the dancing, so much dancing. Brook was going between his guitar and his violin and with Raion accompanying on the piano. People danced, sang, demanded requests. It was probably one of the best parties he'd ever been to, bar none.

It was a little later when Brook played an upbeat jig and Rouge had grabbed all that girls in utter excitement and dragged them onto the tables for a line dance. She had Mara, Eevee, Dahlia, Belle, Margherita, the twins, Cerise... Nami was too drunk, Tikka, Makino, even Robin got up with them. Every single male cheered as the skeleton played the song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" and the girls stomped their feet and clapped and spun, singing and laughing.

It was after that dance that Rouge hooked an arm around Eevee's shoulders and declared, "My girl here is gonna knock all your socks off with a dance! Whaddaya say, cuz?" she turned glittering blue eyes to him sitting at the piano.

Eevee, dance for everyone? "Sure!" he agreed instantly, even as a little part of him went 'oh boy'. She was gonna dance and everyone was gonna see? Her dancing was hypnotic and ethereal... he didn't have a song that could encompass that.

"Yohohohoho!" Brook laughed, "Raion-san, I have a song then that we must play for the lady!"

He shrugged, "Alright, you know best, sensei." he grinned.

Rouge wouldn't take no for an answer, and practically dragged Eevee up onto the make-shift stage that had been set up. Cheers went up all around, and Eevee blushed, looking around at all of the grinning faces that were staring up at her. Was she really going to dance for them? Having done many performances before, Eevee didn't really suffer from stage freight, but it was still rather intimidating to be the center of attention all of a sudden.

She looked over to Raion, seated at the piano, and saw him watching her, grinning. Brook leapt up on top of the piano with a flourish and bowed to her before settling his guitare into position. He gave her a wink, his skull face grinning. "Yohohoho! Eevee-chan, are you ready to rock?!" he cried, slashing his bone fingers across the guitar strings and sending a wave of music up into the air.

Eevee laughed with a nod, then fell into a curtsy. She was proud of herself for not wobbling, considering the amount of alcohol she'd consumed already. At her curtsy, a chorus of yells and cat-calls came from the crowd, and when she straightened she was grinning. The alcohol went a long way in erasing her uncertainty and bringing out a boldness in her that was rarely seen. It was a powerful moment, a reffirmation of the reason why she'd wanted to be a pirate in the first place: for the freedom to do whatever she wanted, how she wanted, when she wanted. And now...she wanted to dance.

Her eyes flickered back to Raion, at his handsome face and the regal way he held himself at the piano. She wanted to dance for _him_. She wanted to make him stare, to _want_ her. He'd seen her dance before; this time, she wanted to make an impression on him, and do a dance he wouldn't forget. Drawing in a deep breath, she spun around so that her back was to the crowd, and lifted her hands into a dance ready position.

"Alrrrriiiiigggghhhttt!" Brook screamed out, then tapped his foot three times, "One, two, three!"

Brook, before jumping up on his piano -which made Raion cringe and remind himself that it's not _his_ piano- told him what song they would be performing. He didn't remember what it was exactly, but it was something with a bit of an exotic vibe to it. It was alright that he didn't remember though; music was innate and he remembered all music.

True enough, once the skeleton hit those first couple of guitar chords, high and fast, the music rushed over him and Raion picked up his part seamlessly, his fingers brushing over the piano keys. It didn't require a complex piano accompaniment.

People cheered, recognizing the song instantly. Several of the girls squealed in delight and he could see Rouge and Belle clapping their hands, getting a beat started through the crowd.

And Raion sang, the words pouring out of him unconsciously.

" _Like a gift from the heavens,_

 _it was easy to tell,_

 _it was love from above that could save me from hell._

 _She had fire in her soul_

 _it was easy to see_

 _how the devil himself could be pulled out of me._

 _There were drums in the air_

 _As she started to dance._

 _Every soul in the room_

 _Keeping time with their hands_

 _And we sang;_

 _Aay Ooh Aay Ooh Aay Ooh Aay_

 _And the voices rang like the angels singing_

 _Singing Aay Ooh Aay Ooh Aay Ooh Aay_

 _And we danced on into the night..._ _"_

... What? This was the song Brook had in mind? That skeleton was as devious as his mother. It was - It was exotic and sensual and the lyrics were utterly Eevee.

Around the picnic tables set up like a makeshift stage, people were clapping to the beat, singing along and dancing as they watched her work her magic. Once again, she enraptured the crowd, working them over as her body became the living entity of music and he, Raion, was her muse to give her song.

The song they played was like one she'd never danced before. It was sensual, heavy. There was a pause, as if her mind raced to adapt her dancing to this sort of song, but then she let her mind go blank, and simply let the music take her away.

With Raion's amazing voice wrapping around her, it wasn't difficult.

She let her eyes slide close, held her arms out to the side, and began to dance. Her hips gyrating and swung with each beat, her arms curling and winding around her body at different intervals. At one point, she flipped her hair over her head in a full body ripple that resulted in a roar of approval from everyone. Her dance was a mixture between a latino dance and a gypsy's dance, made even more captivating by the way her long shirt/dress rippled and swayed with each sway of her hips and each spin she took.

Halfway through the song, she spun around and looked over her shoulder, arms wrapped around herself and her hips swaying suggestively from side to side. Her eyes locked with Raion's, and held. His dark gaze had ensnared her, and it would have taken momentous effort to look away...so she didn't.

It was like her dancing had been injected with even more life, more zest...more heat. Her breathing picked up as she leapt, spun, gyrated, and swayed across the make-shift stage, her eyes locked with his the whole time and her body telling a sinful story of lust and romance. She became oblivious to the rest of the party, deaf to their catcalls, whistles, and cheers. The sound of their rising voices became a secondary sound, the swell beneath the ocean and Raion's voice, the wave.

In the crowd, somewhere near the back, Dahlia let out a slow whistle, her dark brows raised over her golden eyes. Leaning closer to Sabo, she said in Creole, "the chemistry between them is palpable...if he is too dumb to see the gift in front of him, your best friend is surely lost."

Sabo glanced at her before returning his eyes to the mesmerizing dance before him. He'd never in his life seen anyone dance the way Eevee was dancing, and though he was a committed man who would never stray from the woman he loved, even he had to admit that he was utterly captivated by her. He could tell, too, that it was _because_ of Raion that she was able to dance this way. He had to agree with Dahlia; they both may be more or less oblivious to it, but it was starting to become apparent to Sabo that they were perfect for each other. And he pitied both of them, because situations like that were rarely easy. "Je sais, ma chere...But there is nothing anyone can do about it but them."

Dahlia said nothing in answer. Just then, Eevee's executed a 720 degree spin, her hands up up in the air with her wrists rolling sensually, and the move was so extravagant and sexy that everyone let out shouts and cries of appreciation, including Dahlia and Sabo.

He glanced at her for one second. _One second_. He caught her watching him. Their eyes locked. And something happened that never happened before to him.

He forgot the music he was playing.

Everything about him stilled for several heartbeats. His hands on the piano made no noise - he was dimly aware that Brook had taken up a rocking guitar solo to cover for him - his breath ceased, his heart stopped. He thought he held most of the cards when it came to the two of them; he was always in control, always knew exactly what he wanted out of her and when.

Apparently, she held an ace and she had captured him. Utterly and irrevocably. She had him as her mercy, the way no one else had ever had. She had him playing right into the palms of her soft hands and he was senselessly helpless to her. She was his rhythm, his exact musical match, literally the personification of his musical soul. She was the harmony to his melody, the beat to his drum.

It wasn't even so much as the way she was dancing. Not to say it wasn't spectacular, the sultry sway of her hands and hips made him hot on the inside, but even that urging lust he had for her all the time took a back burner. He belonged to her like he belonged to the music.

He heard the break in the music that was his count down cue and it shook him out of his revere. Tearing his eyes away from her was impossible, but even for a fleeting moment, he was able to snatch back the music and sing for her.

" _Like a piece to the puzzle that falls into place,_

 _You could tell how he felt from the look on her face._

 _We were spinning in circles with the moon in our eyes_

 _No room left to move in between you and I._

 _We forgot where we were and we lost track of time_

 _And we sang to the wind as we danced through the night_

 _Singing Aay Ooh Aay Ooh Aay Ooh Aay_

 _And the voices rang like the angels singing_

 _Singing Aay Ooh Aay Ooh Aay Ooh Aay._

 _And we danced on into the night._ _"_

Another rocking guitar solo had Brook jumping onto the stage with her, sliding his bony knees across the wood, his bony fingers skittering over the guitar like he was playing it for her. In the brief moment that she turned her attention to his music teacher, Raion was released from her spell and able to focus again. His heart beat hammered against his ribcage and he felt breathless like he'd run a thousand miles.

Brook turned it over to him, leaping from the stage back to the piano, the guitar part melting back as the piano's voice took precedence.

" _Like a gift from the heavens_

 _It was easy to tell_

 _It was love from above that could save me from hell_

 _She had fire in her soul_

 _It was easy to see_

 _How the devil himself could be pulled out of me._

 _There were drums in the air_

 _As she started to dance_

 _Every soul in the room keeping time with their hands_

 _And we sang Aay Ooh Aay Ooh Aay Ooh Aay_

 _And the voices rang like the angels singing_

 _Singing Aay Ooh Aay Ooh Aay Ooh Aay._

 _And we danced on into the night._ _"_

Brook's voice fell into place with his, echoing the "Aay Ooh Aay" part.

" _And we danced on into the night..._ _"_

With a final strum on the guitar, it was over and the crowd went crazy. Raion didn't move a muscle, feeling like he needed a second to compose himself. He had the chance too, as Brook stole the spotlight.

"Yohohohoho!" he laughed, "Oh BABY! What a performance! My bones are singing! So SOULFUL!" He strummed his fingers over the instrument, starting another song and the crowd cheered again.

Raion felt a hand on his shoulder and glanced to see Zoro-oji stand there with a pint of something strong held out for him. Raion was close to all the Straw Hats, but he had a bond with Zoro like he didn't with anyone else. Zoro was his teacher, his sensei in the art of the sword and Raion was the son he'd never had, though their relationship wasn't parent-child like Ace was to Raion, his father away from home. It was difficult to wrap their relationship up into neat things like words, but suffice it to say that what Raion didn't feel comfortable talking to his mother about and what his father was too thick to understand, the next adult Raion always went to was Zoro.

"Here," the moss-haired man said, indicating the pint, "You need this."

"Thanks," he replied, taking the mug and drinking it. He made a little noise, "Ugh. What is this?" it wasn't sake; it was way stronger and tasted like battery acid.

"Just drink it."

He did, draining the cup and gasped, his tongue and throat on fire, "You're trying to kill me, aren't you?"

Zoro grinned and took the mug back, "Nope, but you'll feel better in a few minutes."

When the music finally stopped, Eevee was almost panting from the effort she'd put in to her dance. She grinned from the stage, and dipped into a low curtsey as the cheers rang from all over the party. She felt the same kind of high she always felt after a performance, but for some reason she enjoyed it so much more. Perhaps it was because she'd danced for herself rather than for the crowd. She'd done what she'd wanted, not what the crowd wanted, not what the Performance Script told her she was supposed to dance. Choosing each dance maneuver in the moment was strangely exhilarating; it felt wild, and she'd been rewarded for her choice by a rambunctious applause.

Her eyes flitted over to Raion, and saw that he was gulping down a cup full of something that Zoro had handed him. He looked a little dazed, and she wondered, briefly, if his expression had anything to do with her dance. A smile flickered at the edges of her lips and heat filtered into her cheeks at the thought. She _hoped_ she was the reason, and she hoped it was a good thing.

Just then, Rouge leapt up onto the stage next to her, and hooked an arm through Eevee's. "Ain't my homegirl just a slice of heaven or what?" she called into the crowd, and there was a roar of approval in response. Rouge stuck out her tongue with a grin and turned on Eevee. "Your dancing blows my mind! Come on, let's get some more alcohol in you. You clearly need more if you were able to do that whole dance without wobbling at all. BOOZE!" she cried as she tugged Eevee towards the edge of the stage, then leapt off. Eevee was dragged with her, and let out a squeek of alarm when the woman leapt so high that Eevee was sure they would crash when they landed.

Her stomach jerked up inside of her when they suddenly slowed their decent, and Eevee dragged her eyes away from the ground below and glanced over at Rouge to see that she'd shifted into her half form, and glorious black dragon wings were sprouting out from her back, catching the wind and sailing them downwards. They touched down almost softly, and Eevee let out a giggle.

"That's amazing!" Eevee gasped, staring at Rouge as her scales flipped and dissapeared from her skin. The dark-haired beauty winked at her, then held out both of her hands expectantly, not even taking her eyes from Eevee.

Just like that, two mugs of alcohol were thrust into them, and Eevee turned her head to see TIkka standing there, her eyes dancing with excitement. She held another mug in her hand, and lifted it up in a salute. She held it there, and Eevee realized she was waiting to cheers. Hurriedly, she took the mug that Rouge was offering her, and lifted it up as the three of them knocked mugs, then tossed them back in a deep swig.

Fire blazed in her mouth, and Eevee sputtered, coughing against the foul taste of the booze. "What...what IS this?" she gasped, her eyes watering as she looked up at Tikka. The woman barked out a laugh and tossed her white curls over her shoulder with a shrug of her shoulder.

"Something that'll make you feel good. Just drink it, and soon it won't taste so bad," Tikka promised, holding up her mug at an angle to show Eevee that she'd drained all of hers.

"Buck up, hot stuff. You're a pirate now. Get SLOSHED." Rouge told her, punching her in the arm. Eevee was sure she didn't mean for it to hurt, but the woman was clearly stronger than she thought she was, cuz Eevee winced and rubbed the spot with a little pout. "Don't be such a wuss! You just kicked ass on stage. Grow some balls and drink it already," Rouge told her with a roll of her sapphire eyes.

Glancing down at the mug in her hands, Eevee drew in a deep breath and sighed. Drinking came with being a pirate, she supposed. Wrinkling her nose in distaste, she tipped the mug back...and drained the contents. When all of it had gone down, she gasped even louder, gagging a little as her eyes watered even more. People nearby laughed, then laughed even harder when she, unexpectedly, burped. Her hand covered her mouth in shock and her eyes widened with dismay, her cheeks pinking.

Rouge and Tikka both burst out laughing, so hard that they gripped their sides. Nearby, Usopp and Chopper were arm and arm together, and had witnessed the event. Both of them joined Rouge and Tikka in their laughter, rolling on the ground together with the extent of their amusement. When Rouge could finally speak again, she reached over and patted Eevee on the back. "Now, THAT was more like it. A little quiet on the belch though. You're a pirate now, dammit. Make some NOISE." And with that, she drew in a deep breath, and let loose an epic belch. Several people nearby stopped mid-drink to stare at her, impressed. Eevee also stared, not sure if she should be horrified or what.

Tikka tilted her head to the side, and said, after a little hmmm noise of consideration, "I give Eevee 4 points, and Rouge...7."

"What?!" Rouge burst out, glaring. "That was at least a 9!"

Tikka laughed and shook her head, eyes glimmering wickedly, "Not when you compare it to the boys. Come on, girl...have some respect!"

Rouge glowered for a second, then started looking around frantically. "More booze! I can do better than a 7! Give me a beer, dammit!" she hollered, and Eevee let out a surprised laugh.

Whatever Zoro-oji had given him to drink had made him drunk.

At first, Raion hadn't noticed. He was stuck at the piano, playing music watching as everyone drank and danced and laughed. It seemed like every time he picked up his mug, it was refilled with that pungent liquor that made steam come out of his ears. BUt he drank it. And he lost track of how many pints of it he'd had.

Certainly, he knew he was drunk. He knew because when he was drunk, everything seemed like an excellent idea. Sabo dancing on the piano? Why not! Zoro and Sanji getting into a fight? Perfect! Luffy stripping naked and running into the ocean? Yes! Margherita and Rouge in full devil-fruit form pitting their strength against each other? Great!

So after watching Eevee for the better part of two hours from his seat at the piano, it didn't occur to him as strange that he wanted to kiss her. In front of all these people. It was a fantastic idea.

He finished up his song at the piano and stood up. The world spun around him and he promptly stumbled and fell into the grass, laughing. Holy shit. He was hammered. His body would not cooperate.

"Zoro!" he shouted, "What the HELL did you do to me?"

Suddenly, Luffy's face filled his vision, "Hey, son!" he exclaimed with a wild grin. His hair was dripping wet.

"Did you go swimming?" Raion asked, focusing on his words.

"I did! It was a great idea!" Luffy yanked his son to his feet and they both leaned heavily on each other, swaying, "One of the big guys fished me out..." he paused, then burst out laughing, "Haha! A fishman _fished_ me out! It's so funny!"

They laughed, "Hey..." Luffy got really close to his face, "Lookit. Someone's dancing with your woman..." he pointed.

Raion followed Luffy's finger and it took him a second to realize what he was seeing. A villager was dancing with Eevee, among a crowd of other people dancing to Brook's guitar. Why was she dancing with other people? That was not okay. A surge of possession fired through him as his drunk mind recalled her dance from earlier. Oh no. Dancing and music was _their_ thing. No one else was allowed into that intimate space with them. No one else was allowed to feel like he did when she danced.

He needed to make sure everyone knew that. That kiss was sounding like an even better idea right now.

"Hang on," he said, leaving his father's side and stalking through the crowd. He parted people out of his way until he was shoving her partner away. He didn't even give the kid another glance. He grabbed Eevee's face and he kissed her. Really _kissed_ her, in front of everyone. Several people around them catcalled and whistled, but he didn't hear them; if he did, he didn't remotely care. Her mouth was fire and it burned through him.

He released her, his lungs skipping a little and suddenly, sex seemed like a good idea. A great idea. And he wanted it right this very minute.

"We're leaving," he declared, grabbing her wrist and dragging her through the crowd. His footsteps were sure for someone who was belligerent, but he had a one-track mind and he wasn't about to take 'no' for an answer.

"Hey, hey, hey! Cuz!" Rouge appeared, "You can't just take my homegirl away from a party!"

"I can," he stated, "And I will. Move, Rouge. We're busy."

The dragon laughed and held up her hands, "Fine!" she wiggled her fingers at them as Raion tugged Eevee away, "Have fun!"

She was having fun dancing with one of the villagers-whose name she couldn't remember due to her drunkenness-when suddenly he was gone, ripped from her arms. She stumbled, her balance well compromised by the sake shots that Zoro-sama had offered her, but was quickly caught up in a new set of arms. It all seemed to happen in a blurr; warm hands grasped her face, and before she fully knew what was going on, Raion's lips were on hers in a deep kiss. She was so shocked, she didn't know what to do, struck dumb both by his sudden appearance as well as the sudden, and very _public_ , show of affection.

When he pulled away, she stared at him in a daze, visible wobbling a little on her feet as the blood rushed to her face. After a shocked silence, she heard a few giggles and chuckles around her, snapping her out of her reverie. She glanced around to see that almost everyone in the vicinity was staring at them-or, rather, Raion. They were looking at him as if he'd just done something very out of character.

She didn't have time to process this thought, though, because already he grabbed her wrist and started dragging her away. She blinked, stumbling after him, and her sloshing brain scrabbled with the concept of his words. Leaving...?

"Why...?" she asked, confused. Rouge tried to stop them, but Raion brushed her off like a man on a mission, and her confusion mounted. "Where are we going?" She asked, her voice slurring a little. Her boot caught on a lump of grass, and she tipped forward, her legs going out under her, alcohol slowing her reaction time.

When she tripped, he turned around and caught her, though clumsily because he was about three degrees shy of a hot mess. The act brought their torsos together, chest to breast. Sex was on the absolute forefront of his mind, burning through his drunken haze. His skin felt hyper-alive where they were pressed together.

Flashes and jarred memories of her dance only hours before flashed through his mind. The way her body moved, sinuous and sensual, the living embodiment of music, rhythm and sex. He legit couldn't think about anything else now. He felt like an addict starved for his fix and the idea of not getting any from his redheaded doctor made his skin crawl.

They were farther away from the party now, lost in the shadows at the edge of town. A wooden fence ran nearby, delineating the edge of the fields and the beginning of the road and town. Raion grabbed her, picked her up and plopped her ass down on the beam of the fence and kissed the shit out of her again. He stepped between her knees, his hands keeping their bodies pressed close.

Sex right here on this fence seemed like an excellent idea and he had his hands up the little tunic dress, ready to yank off her silly leggings when rationality blew over him like a brief gust of wind. Sure. Fucking in public was fun.

Fucking her where everyone would hear her... not fun. Not fun at all. It made his stomach twist and roar with possession.

"We're going back to the ship," he told her, his voice clipped and urgent. He tugged her off the fence, grabbed her hand again and started back down the street. The buildings almost looked like they were bending in towards him and he tried to assure himself that he was simply drunk and to keep his feet steady. It was a lot easier said than done. He may have stumbled a couple of times before they reached the docks and the Hebi-Go.

Up the ladder, on the deck and in an elevated heartbeat, he had her back up against the mast pole, his mouth slashed over hers, one hand in her hair and the other under her ass to keep her up. He wasn't aware that his mouth and hands were a bit rough against her, demanding and harsh. The alcohol seemed to have drowned his ability to censor his behavior. All he could really think about was how he wanted to fuck her nine ways to Sunday and any way he could get.

Things seemed to be moving in a blur for Eevee. One moment, she was up on a fence, Raion's hot lips over hers, his hips urgently pressed between her legs. Then she was off the fence, and being tugged towards the boat. She was to a point of drunkenness that the trip was a minor brown-out, and it felt like she time travelled from the fence to the ship, with Raion's larger body pinning her to the mast.

His lips were demanding, his hands rough on her body. It was jostling, a sharp contrast to the gentle way he'd handled her the night before, but not entirely unpleasant. Her brain was sloshy and slow from the booze, and she was only capable of focusing on one thought at a time. Once she shifted her thoughts from the roughness of his handling to the actual sensations in her own body, she was lost in it. Even without her conscious thoughts, her body was already kindling for him, heating up from the inside.

His hand was cupping her ass, she realized she liked the way he was squeezing it. His hand in her hair held her head steady, pulling on the strands without yanking them out, and the tension felt surprisingly heady. Her breathing picked up a pace in response to it, and her whole system seemed to skip from confused and drunk to hyper-aware and excited. She'd craved her whole life to be a pirate and have more excitement in her life; she should be unsurprised that her body was just as receptive to a more exciting encounter.

She let herself drown in the feeling, and responded to him in kind. It was like a part of her snapped, and suddenly her hands were in his hair, tugging as the strands, urging him closer to herself while simultaneously pressing her body forward against his, eager for as much contact as possible. Her tongue dueled with his, and she was so lost in the fever of his rage that she accidentally bit his lips. Startled by it, she pulled her head back, eyes widened as she stared up at him, as if expecting him to scold her for it.

She bit him.

It was so _not_ Eevee that he stopped as she did, her eyes wide with unmasked alarm. It was the picture of aroused innocence - he suspected that she'd be able to look the part of naive lady forever - with her cheeks and lips flushed and her hair tousled. He laughed.

"Just remember, I bite back," he told her. Then, he flung her over his shoulder like a Neanderthal, one arm looped over the back of her thighs to keep her steady. Naturally, he stumbled. He threw his free arm out to counter his balance, chuckling.

How he managed to make it up the stairs and into his room would forever remain a mystery, his ability to convert short-term memories into long-term ones short-circuiting because of the liquor. Raion was dimly aware that he probably hadn't been this drunk in quite some time; he liked to have a good time, but tried not to get terribly out of control. Whatever Zoro had given him had to be three times the potency of regular sake and it was hitting him like a freight train from Hell.

 _Slam,_ he opened his door and kicked it shut behind him. He dropped her like a sack of potatoes onto his bed and crawled after her. He kissed her again, needing her like oxygen. His hands fumbled drunkenly with her corset, desperately attempting to pluck the strings.

"I need you," he mumbled, his speech blending together like cursive letters on a page.

As he dug himself out of the fogs of sleep, it felt like someone was knocking on the inside of his skull to the beat of his heart. It took him a couple more minutes to recognize that his whole body hurt from hangover. Fuck. He must've consumed his weight in booze last night...

Raion rubbed the heels of his hands into his eyes before he opened them, blinking blearily at the ceiling. _Fuck._

And then he shifted and froze. There was a body in his bed. Slim, bare shoulders, oodles of auburn hair fanning across the pillows. He hardly dared to breathe as his sluggish mind made some attempts to process.

All he had were a string of random expletives. Eevee was naked in his bed. Again. For the second night in a row.

He felt the tendrils of panic creep up his chest and wrap around his neck to suffocate him. This was so backwards. This was so not the way he rolled. This was... this was...

" _You like her... she sleeps over... you_ _'_ _re having sex with her... you_ _'_ _re in a relationship, bro._ _"_ Sabo's voice whispered in his head, a conversation they'd had before the Pirate Ball, which seemed like a whole other lifetime away already. He was in a relationship...

 _No no no no no no no,_ he carefully slipped out of the bed, mindful not to jostle her and locked himself in the bathroom. He shoved off the door and ran the water as hot as he could get it to wash his face and make something of his hair. No. This wasn't a relationship. He didn't do relationships. He didn't commit, didn't want to. He knew what he wanted out of a girlfriend should he ever get one; he wanted a Nami or a Dahlia or a Mara or hell, even a Rouge. He wanted to feel like Luffy and Sabo and Ace and Lukas felt. And until he found that, there was little point in playing pretend and wasting his time and breaking his heart.

Besides, he was too busy being a pirate to commit. Relationships didn't work out so good when your partner wasn't part... of... the... crew...

No. Eevee was _not_ his Nami. She was nakama. She was... she was...

That tightness in his chest made him feel like he was suffocating. He brushed his teeth rapidly, thoughts whirling. He was panicking for no reason. So what, she slept in the bed? It could've happened with anyone, really. He'd been too fucking drunk to leave. So had she. So what that he'd had sex with her twice now? It was bound to happen, right? It wasn't like he could kick her off the crew, he knew that already. So what if this was some kind of... relationship? It was an open-ended one, for sure. It wasn't like he was gonna stop screwing around with other girls because he could get some consistent nooky from one. That was ridiculous.

This was just a little uncharted for him, that's all. But he was a pirate, the Dark Prince, son of the Pirate King. He could handle anything, even these sorta intense, weird feelings he got about his nakama. It was nothing.

Feeling a little more put together, he slipped out of the bathroom. Eevee hadn't moved and he caught himself admiring her in his bed before he shut that thought down immediately and declared he needed fresh air before he went mad. He stuffed his body into some clothes, grabbed his swords and quietly sneaked out of his room.

It was pouring outside, the skies a deep gray with thunderclouds. He took a deep breath. Rain was good. Rain would help him clear his head a little. Ya. A little walk, some rain and some fresh air and he'd be alright again.

She woke up to a pounding headache, and immediately groaned, rolling over to bury her face in the pillow. The scent of the pillow filtered up through her nose and into her senses, and she realized, with a start, that it was Raion's scent, very heavily so. Her head jerked up-causing a jolt of pain in her head-and saw immediately that she was in Raion's bed, no her own. And she was also alone.

It was too much to process at once when her head felt like it was going to split open. She dropped her face back down to the pillow, and stayed that way for quite some time.

When she finally felt like she could move again, she slowly dragged herself out of the bed. Light was filtering through the portholes, and she winced as her eyes skirted over them. Stumbling a little, she headed for the bathroom. She spent several minutes inside, first because she wasn't sure if she was going to throw up or not, then to clean herself up. She opted for a shower, hoping Raion wouldn't mind, then rinsed her mouth out as best she could. She'd brush her teeth after breakfast.

When she exited Raion's room and emerged on the deck, the air was silent and somber from the rain falling. It must be late in the morning, maybe even early in the afternoon, but it seemed that almost the whole town had partied with them last night, and many were probably still asleep. Titus was on the deck, not at all concerned with the rain, and looked up at she came out. She paused, blushing, and looked down.

"Everyone is at Maki's bar getting some food and recovering. Zeke is handing out his hangover cure," Titus' deep voice cut through her embarrassment, and she glanced up at him in relief to see that he had absolutely no expression on his face. She was grateful for his propriety.

"Thanks...see you later, Titus," Eevee mumbled to him and hurried off the boat, her head ducked against the rain. Her headache made hurrying difficult, but she didn't want to be soaked through so she pushed herself. When she finally arrived at the bar, she found it packed with familiar pirates and new friends. She received a subdued greeting from most people as she entered, and she could tell, immediately, that she wasn't the only person suffering.

She also noticed, almost just as quickly, that Raion wasn't there. She told herself not to be disappointed, that she would likely see him soon enough. She wondered, though, where he could be.

Eevee took a seat at the bar, between Sabo and Usopp, and let out a small sigh of relief. Zeke came to her side almost immediately, and offered her a cup filled with a dark liquid that smelled horrid. She'd had it before, though, and knew how amazing the effects were. "Thank you Zeke," she mumbled to him as she took the liquid and swallowed it down.

Next to her, Sabo chuckled and eyed her with a grin on his face, "Not so fun the day after, ne?"

Usopp had his head on his folded arms, and lifted his eye-rimmed eyes to glare past Eevee at Sabo, "you're a freak for almost never being hungover...it's a damn miracle. Disgusting, if you ask me," he croaked, then dropped his face back into his arms. Eevee giggled a little.

 _Hands, mouth, sensations and images blurred around the edges. Heavy breath, whimpers, groans. Begging, endless, nonsense streams of words, directions, commands, giggling and laughing._

" _Call me_ _'_ _senchou_ _',"_ _he whispered._

" _S-senchou_ _…"_

" _Fuck ya. Again._ _"_

" _Senchou!_ _"_

" _Louder. Come on, Eevee. Come for me._ _"_

" _I… s-sen…"_

Raion ground the heels of his hands into his eyes. Every minute that went by, his memory from last night came back, like carefully placed pieces of a giant jigsaw puzzle. He was rapidly coming to the conclusion that it had been probably the best sex of his life. He was alone, sitting in the old tree house, lost in the woods of Mount Colubo with not a soul around him for miles and still, his ears turned pink just thinking about it. They'd done things he didn't think he'd be comfortable repeating a second time. As it was, he wasn't convinced he'd be able to stay in the same breathing space as her without his blood pressure jacking up.

Being alone, soaked from the rain, listening to it knock heavily against the dilapidated roof of the ages-old treehouse wasn't doing him any favors. He… he really liked Eevee. He liked having her on the crew. He liked kissing her. He liked having sex with her. He didn't know what he was supposed to make of that. He didn't _love_ her, at least, no more than he loved the rest of his nakama.

Besides, love wasn't supposed to work that way. He remembered a conversation he had with Lukas once:

" _But how do you_ know?" _he_ _'_ _d asked,_ _"_ _How do you sort through the girls?_ _"_ _it was no secret really that the ex-marine had had his share of women warming his bed, had even been engaged before finding Rouge._

 _Lukas had laughed,_ _"_ _I don_ _'_ _t know, bro, you just know. You meet and it_ _'_ _s all crazy and shit and it makes you insane. And then when all that craziness levels out and it_ _'_ _s just the two of you_ _…_ _you just know._ _"_

That didn't make any sense then and it didn't make any sense now as he was remembering it. Was he going crazy? What the hell was it supposed to mean, to just _know_? He always imagined it'd work like finding nakama. He'd meet her, and then boom. He'd know. Like when he met Margherita and the Twins. He wanted them on his crew, and it happened. It was supposed to be that way.

Lightning flashed and thunder shook the treehouse. He heard the distinct clatter behind him as a piece of lumber collapsed. Violent weather didn't bother him - a side effect of your mother being a weather witch - but if he stayed out here much longer, he'd probably catch a cold or something.

Besides, he should probably start thinking about their next plan of attack. Where would the crew go next, if Rouge needed him for something, things like that. Sitting in a treehouse, panicking over great sex was not his motif.

He jumped down, the ground slushy and soft from rain. It pelted down hard, running down his face, his clothes sticking to him as if he'd taken a jump into the ocean. Thunder rolled, loud as a beast, reverberating in his chest cavity.

He picked his way through the forest, his flip flops sticking to the muddy ground. It was a couple of miles to the village, a bit of a treacherous walk, but he knew the layout of the land like the back of his hand and his sense of direction was impeccable.

With about a mile left, Raion stopped under a tall, gnarly old tree, running his hands over the rough bark before walking around it. There. He grinned. He and Sabo had carved designed into the dying tree when they were kids; one of the many trees that had fallen victim. The forest of littered with all sorts of marking made by not only them, but their parents as well.

To say it happened lightning fast would be utterly cliche and ridiculously accurate. His Haki saw it coming, but perhaps only a millisecond early. After all, Haki wasn't infallible. Just because he could see something coming didn't mean he was fast enough to get away. And nothing was faster than lightning.

With the sound like a land mine had gone off, lightning struck the tall tree and it burst into smithereens. Raion dove, tucking and rolling to avoid the brunt of the blast that likely would have killed him. White-hot nicks of pain licked over his body as showers of splinters rained down on him. He planted his hands to stop his momentum and whipped his head up to glance at the tree some fifty yards away. It was black and smoking, charred from the lightning and nearly destroyed.

Fuck. That was a close call.

He glanced down at himself. His hands and forearms were littered with minute slices, like he'd rolled around in shattered glass. He touched his face and his hand came back red, but it was impossible to tell if that was from his hand or his face. He couldn't feel any pain…

A few small splinters stuck out of his skin. He plucked them out, hardly wincing. Rain washed away most of the blood, but it didn't look like he had anything too serious. Then… he noticed his legs.

"Oh shit…" he muttered. His legs looked similar to his arms, a little cut up, but nothing too damaging. That is, with the exception of rather intimidating-looking piece of tree sticking out of his left leg above his knee like a stab wound.

He wasn't an idiot. In fact, having sailed the ocean so long without a doctor, he and Sabo as well were quite well read on the subject of human anatomy. They were no doctors by any means. But he knew there were several major arteries in the human body with some minor offshoots and two of the biggest ones happened to be in the legs. Judging by the amount of blood that was soaking his shorts, that lovely piece of timber had nicked one. He'd bleed out in a matter of minutes if he pulled it out. As it was, he calculated he had less than thirty minutes before he was unconscious.

"Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I need a doctor…" he muttered. He grabbed one of his swords and sliced the pointed edge off the splinter, leaving it still in his leg. He couldn't feel anything and by the way his hands shook as he wrapped his sash tight around his thigh in a makeshift tourniquet, he was slipping into shock.

Could he walk? It was probably a mile to the village now, if he could make it, Eevee or Chopper could fix him up. Certainly, he'd had worse injuries before… maybe not ones with damaged arteries pumping blood out of his body at alarmingly rapid rates, but he could make it, sure.

He stood shakily and carefully, using his swords as a makeshift support. Alright. So far, not bad. He attempted to put a little weight on his left leg and immediately, his knee buckled. Okay. So his trek back was gonna be a little awkward. He took one step, then another, deliberately placing his good leg down, then his swords, repeating the process over and over. Leg, swords, leg, swords…

Ten minutes and a quarter mile later, he collapsed. His vision blacked out for one scary moment before the world came back in blurry focus. His shorts were soaked red, blood mating with rain and running in rivulets down his leg. He tried to get up, but his body wouldn't cooperate. His breath came in quick pulses as his head spun. The rain hadn't felt cold before, but it sure as shit did now. He was freezing. He shifted until he could sit up and lean back against a tree.

This was cute. He'd lost too much blood. Moving had probably not been the smartest choice, but how else was he supposed to get medical attention? He was in the middle of the forest, not a soul knew where he was, bleeding to death. What an ironic way to die. The Government would get a kick out of it. He could see the headlines now "Monkey D. Raion, the Dark Prince, Killed by a Tree." Nice.

He snorted in derision, a smirk turning up the corners of his lips.

Eevee had almost finished eating when a very bad feeling suddenly came over her. A shiver raced up and down her spine, and her stomach flipped uncomfortably. Cold seeped into her belly, and her skin felt too tight for her body.

It was something with Raion. She couldn't explain it, but it felt very similar to her other hunches, but far, far more urgent. Something had to be wrong…something very bad.

The color must have drained out of her face because Sabo interrupted her thoughts by saying, "Hey, are you alright?"

She shook her head slowly, and raised her eyes up to stare at Sabo, "I think something's wrong with Raion. Something very bad…I feel…I don't know how to explain what I feel, but it's not good."

Sabo's brows came together in a frown, and he studied her features for a moment. "Does it feel like one of your hunches?" he asked as he put his fork down and reached into his pocket.

"Yes, but stronger than my hunches. I can feel it in my body, that something is _wrong_ ," she told him, her voice fretful.

Sabo pulled something from his pocket, and held it up in his palm. It was a scrap of paper, and the corner of it was smoking. His eyes widened at the sight of it, and he jumped to his feet. "This is Raion's _vivre_ card. He's definitely in trouble. We gotta go."

Eevee didn't need any kind of prodding, and leapt to her feet immediately. Several people looked at him inquiringly, but Sabo didn't waste time explaining; he grabbed Eevee's hand and bolted out the door, dragging her after him. "Which way?" he demanded as they exited out into the torrential rain. He had to shout to be heard over her wind and rain.

Eevee paused, looking around, and finally closed her eyes, focusing on her feelings rather than her senses. Sabo stared at her impatiently, his body trembling with the need to bolt after his friend. Finally, Eevee nodded and pointed towards the woods, "That way!" she cried, and Sabo took off, dragging her behind him.

What made Sabo a great fuku-senchou was that he remained calm under pressure. Granted, he had oodles of energy, but he rarely got to the point where he was rattled.

Seeing Raion's vivre card smoking in the palm of his hand had rattled him. Just a little. Perhaps he would've been less jolted if he hadn't just lost his great-grandfather. But seeing that little wisp of smoke, all he could think was; _Not Raion too._

He couldn't lose his best friend. He'd lose his mind.

There were too many unknown factors. What was on this little island that could cause the captain so much danger - life threatening danger? By the same token, this was Raion they were rushing to the rescue of. Raion didn't _need_ to be rescued. Ever. He was Raion, the Dark Prince the most dangerous, powerful pirate on the ocean this generation.

What the hell had happened?

He raced through the woods, dragging the doctor behind him as she stumbled to keep up. Even as the rain poured down in thick sheets, blinding them, he knew these woods. He'd grown up in this terrain. He knew every ditch, every hill, every bank without needing to see.

He glanced down at the piece of paper in his hands, no bigger than half a playing card. It danced across his palm, pointing the way. Instead of being soaked by the rain, it appeared to be doing just the opposite. The little edge that had been smoking in the bar was now just beginning to glow a bright orange, flickering back and forth from simply charred to burning embers.

It had a long ways to go before it burned up, which was the only reason why Sabo wasn't melting into full-blown panic mode. After all, this special piece of paper was tied to Raion's life-force; if it burned up, that meant that the captain's life energy was also burned up.

The paper trembled earnestly in his palm, indicating they had to be close. He glanced up, his blue eyes squinting against the rain. There. He spotted him, a blurry outline, hardly visible. Raion wasn't moving, as far as he could tell. It looked like he was sitting under a tree…

"Right there!" Sabo pointed, then pulled Eevee behind him.

They rushed over to him and dropped down under the tree with him, "Oh my god…" Sabo whispered, his voice not heard against the background of the weather.

Raion was a mess. Half his face was all scratched up, like he'd wiped out and kissed gravel. His tee shirt was torn ten ways to Sunday and his arms were equally scratched and bleeding, some wounds deeper than others that would definitely require stitching. His legs didn't look much different.

But what was most alarming was his left leg, above his knee. A shard of wood, as big around as Sabo's closed fist, jutted from his leg, through the edge of his shorts. Blood soaked the cargo and stained the wet ground below him and his woven sandal which was once a light brown now resembled rust.

His skin was dangerously pale and his whole body trembled as he opened his dark eyes, "Sabo…" he muttered, then turned his eyes over to Eevee, "Oh, good… I need a doctor…" his voice was a little rumbly and his breath came a little quick.

"What the hell happened to you?" Sabo demanded.

"A tree exploded," he replied, his teeth chattering, "Lightning… I got away…" his hand, also cut up, lifted to hover over the timber in his thigh, "I think I'm bleeding out though…"

"I can see that," Sabo said, "Let's get you back to the ship. I can't have you die on me like this. Very uncool."

Raion managed to grin, "Super uncool. I need to go down… in a blazing battle… with you…"

"Preferably as old men. Here, can you try to stand?"

"I can try."

Sabo looped his arm around Raion's torso and Raion put his arm over Sabo's shoulders and Sabo stood, managing most of his best friend's weight. Raion was a big guy; thankfully, Sabo was pretty strong despite that he wasn't as bulky as his captain. And this wasn't the first time he had to muscle Raion's dead weight.

"I think I'm gonna pass out…" Raion muttered.

"You go ahead and do that. Eevee and I can take it from here."

"Okay…"

Raion went instantly limp, like he'd just been waiting to pass the torch of responsibility. Sabo shifted quickly so that he had him in a piggy-back, his hand hooked behind Raion's knees and Raion's arms draped over his shoulders. He glanced at Eevee, "Let's go."

At the sigh of Raion, Eevee felt her heart stop. Sound receded from her ears for a moment and her sight narrowed down to just him. Raion was…hurt. Badly. It was something that hadn't crossed her mind before, as if she hadn't believed it was possible for someone like him to be hurt.

As two seconds ticked by, the world restarted with a roar. She could heart her own heart pounding overtime in her chest as she rushed ahead of Sabo, kneeling down next to captain as her eyes raced over his body and assessed the damage. She wanted to cry, but instead, her mind shifted into medical gear, and she let her feelings drop away from her. She needed to be focused if he was going to make it through this; he'd already lost a lot of blood.

When Sabo went to pick him up, she stopped him, reaching up and grabbing onto Sabo's belt with quick, sure fingers. "Wait! Before you do that I need to tourniquet the wound," she told him in a clipped tone, and hurriedly removed it from his waist with a jerk. She was as gentle as possible while still being quick, sliding the belt under the damaged leg, right below his hips and groin and a few inches above the wound. Then she tightened the belt as hard as she could. "Okay, now."

She stood back just enough for Sabo to hoist Raion up, then stuck close as she maintained the tightness of the belt.

The walk back to the town seemed to take forever. As soon as they were in range, Sabo let loose a shrill whistle that made Eevee wince. It was effective though, and within moments, pirates came into view. "Get Chopper! Raion's been hurt badly!" Sabo yelled as they took a swift turn and started heading to Garp's cabin, which was closer. Eevee didn't take her eyes off Raion's pale face as they approached. She opened the door for Sabo, then hurried in behind him as soon as the two had crossed the threshold.

Both of them hurried to the bedroom, and Sabo eased Raion off onto the bed with as much care as possible. Luckily, several of Chopper's medical equipment was still in the room from when he had been treating Garp, and Eevee immediately gathered everything she needed. Lightning fast, she was back on the bed.

"The only wound we need to worry about is that leg," she told Sabo hurriedly, sitting on the edge of the bed and holding up a pair of scissors. She cut like a madwoman, removing the rest of his pant leg. "You're going to have to pull this out for me. Wait until I give the go-ahead."

Just then, the door banged open again, and three people rushed in: Chopper, in his heavy point form, Sanji, and Rouge. Chopper wasted no time and hurried around the edge of the bed, "Tell me what we've got, doctor," he snapped out, his eyes roaming over Raion's body in the same way Eevee's had earlier. Sanji and Rouge went to the foot of the bed, and Rouge was staring at Raion with wide eyes while Sanji scowled under worried brows.

"Puncture. Artery has been knicked. Severe blood loss. Removal of the object is first priority, then we can deal with the artery," Eevee tossed out as she pressed several towels around the branch. "Sanji, I need you to keep this belt as tight as possible and stem as much blood as we can while Sabo and Chopper remove the object."

Chopper immediately replaced her hands with his own around the wound, applying even more pressure evenly around the branch. Eevee hurriedly snapped on plastic gloves and picked up a needle and stitching while Sanji came around and secured the belt. "On three," Chopper told her, his serious eyes looking right at Eevee as he said it. Eevee gave a curt nod.

"One, two, three," Sanji pushed down, as did Chopper, while Sabo yanked upward swiftly. The branch came free with a spurt of blood, and Eevee immediately dashed in. Her smaller fingers were more suited for stitching, and she located the artery with ease. Once she'd gotten the needle in it, Chopper pressed inwards with his hands, closing the wound as small as possible without compromising Eevee's work.


	12. Chapter 12

Everything moved in a flurry around him, his sharp eyes taking it all in. Several people entered - Rouge, Sanji and Chopper - and Eevee issued orders like a drill sergeant. The doctor was stitching as quickly as she could while Chopper was applying pressure to the wound and Sanji tugged the belt tightly.

Rouge was standing at the foot of the bed, staring, her face a pallid white like she'd punctured an artery too.

"For crissake, Rouge!" Sabo snapped. He never snapped at his sister, "Don't just stand there! We need medical equipment from my ship! And go get Luffy! He'd blood type F."

She nodded swiftly just as someone over her shoulder said, "I'm blood type F…"

Ace stood in the doorway, his brows pinched with concern. Shit. In his fit to get Raion out of the rain and some attention, he'd nearly forgotten his father was still here.

"Well, we can use you then," he gestured for Ace to come into the room, parked him in a chair and began setting up an IV for a blood transfusion, "Chopper?" he turned, his voice seeking confirmation before he went further. God only knew it was a terrible, terrible thing to transfuse blood that wasn't the same type.

The reindeer nodded curtly and Sabo went for it. Rich, dark blood filtered into an empty sack dangling from the arm of the chair.

"Take two pints," Chopper said, "And two from Luffy. That'll be enough…" just then, the front door slammed open and bodies started surging into the house. Sabo's adrenaline shifted into overload. Shit. His best friend was dying and half the pirates in town were trying to get into a house where his "dead" father was currently donating blood. He didn't need this.

Luffy barged in, "What happened?" behind him, there were a couple of shrieks, one of them distinctly Nami's. Behind Sabo, Ace shielded his face from view with a hand in a precautionary gesture.

"Everyone OUT!" Sabo barked, the captain in him rising up in place of Raion when the need arose to demand order. He yanked Luffy into the room, "Except you. Sit there," he pointed to the other chair and shut the door to close everyone in.

He was staring at a living room filled with people in various degrees of concern. Nami was crying. Bellemere was panicking. His own nakama had managed to come in to, Margherita's face trying to peer around several taller people in front of her.

"It's alright!" he held up his hands to indicate people to back up, "He's gonna be fine. We have two highly qualified doctors in there with him."

"What happened?" Belle implored.

"It was just an accident," Sabo assured her, assured everyone.

"Please, please let me in!" Nami cried, pushing her way forward, "Let me in, I need to see him…"

"No." he told her firmly, "There are too many people in there. The doctors need room to work."

"The card!" she shrieked, holding out her palm where the other half of Raion's vivre card was resting, "It - it was burning in my hands!"

He closed her fingers around it, "It's not burning now. I can't let you in. Later, I promise." he switched his attention to the crowd, "Everyone needs to wait outside. Now."

Rouge and Lukas appeared, muscling through the door, their arms filled with medical equipment. Nami's face drained of its remaining color seeing that and Sabo gestured for Zoro to come grab her before she fainted or something.

Finally, after what felt like hours but in reality was only just a few minutes, order resumed. People filtered out of the house to wait on the porch. Nami, Belle, Zoro, Tikka and Mara waiting in the house with Rouge and Lukas guarding the door to keep people from coming back in. Sanji left and all that was left in the little bedroom were the two doctors and Luffy and Ace as blood donors. And Sabo.

It took over an hour and a half before Raion was completely stable. Suturing an artery was tricky business, and then several layers of muscles and flesh had to be knit back together. Luffy and Ace were able to donate enough blood to make up for all of the blood that Raion lost, and with Chopper and Eevee's combined efforts, it soon became clear that he would make a full recovery the moment color started returning to his pallor.

Eevee slumped against the chair when she finally finished the last of the suturing. Chopper was still wiping the blood away from the wound, and glanced up at her as she let out a slow breath. "You look tired, doctor. You should drink some water and rest."

Eevee shook her head, her eyes skirting over Raion's features. "He still has many smaller lacerations that need to be cleaned."

"I can take care of that. Go drink some water," when he saw that she was about to protest again, his eyes narrowed and he let out a little grunt. "Actually, you could get myself, Ace, and Luffy some water too. That would help everyone."

Eevee closed her mouth and glanced around the room. Luffy was leaning forward in his chair, his eyes locked on his son's face and his hand wrapped tightly in Raion's. Ace was also watching Raion, but occasionally his eyes drifted over to Luffy, lingering on his younger brother's face. Both of them had bandages wrapped around their arms from where blood had been extracted from them. Both of them looked pale.

"Yes, doctor," Eevee told him, and got to her feet. Sabo fell into step besides her as she headed for the door, then followed her out.

"Is he really going to be okay? Full recovery? Anything he needs to worry about?" Sabo asked her in a low voice.

"He's going to be fine. He's extremely healthy and his body is strong. He just needs to take it easy for a while. Colors is already back in his face, so it means his circulatory system is handling the new blood well and distributing it without stress."

As they emerged from the room, several people stood up. Nami and Bellemere instantly rushed them, and Eevee stopped in her tracks, holding her hands up in front of her. When she realized they were covered in blood, both dried and otherwise, and hurriedly hid them behind her back. "He's okay! He's going to be fine. Chopper is just cleaning things up right now, and in a few minutes you'll be allowed to see him. We just have to make sure he can't catch an infection."

Nami practically sagged in relief, and her daughter slipped an arm around her, relief glowing in her face. Eevee could see a piece of white paper clutched in the red-head's hand, and realized it was the other half of the vivre card that belonged to Raion. She must have been checking it often. "Thank you, Eevee…thank you so much," Nami told her, her voice wobbling.

Eevee shook her head and looked down, "It was more than just my effort that saved him. If you'll excuse me, I need to grab some water for everyone in there."

Nami instantly straightened, and squared her shoulders. "I'll help you."

Eevee smiled gratefully at her offer, and followed the woman towards the kitchen.

Half an hour later, and Raion was completely bandaged and his family sat around him. By then, Chopper was setting up an IV drip next to the bed, and Sabo glanced at it with a frown. "Does he need fluids? I thought he got enough blood."

Eevee shook her head, "That isn't just for fluids, it's also a morphine drip, for the pain. It's gonna be rough when he wakes up, which could be any minute, and if he doesn't have something to dull the pain, he can go into shock or something when he wakes up."

Sabo's brows shot up, and he gave Eevee a look that had her frowning at him. "What?" she asked, glancing between Raion and Sabo as if she could see the reason for his odd expression.

"Oh, nothing…just that Raion's a monster on morphine. He also has no filter…so good luck dealing with that," Sabo chuckled, shaking his head and shooting his best friend an amused glance. Eevee continued to frown at him, not entirely sure what he meant.

It was hours before Raion stirred. And it wasn't even the fully-awake kinda stir. Everyone in the room - his mother, father, sister, Ace-oji and the two doctors - jumped and clambered around the bed. Raion opened his eyes blearily, asked for Sabo, then for Eevee and when his vice-captain gave him confirmation that they were both there and everything was fine, he went right back to sleep.

Chopper insisted that the severe blood loss and morphine drip were contributing to his fatigue. Eevee added that the fact that everyone including Raion had consumed double their weight in alcohol the night before wasn't making anything easier.

Sabo made an executive call when Luffy, Belle and Nami all fell asleep in one chair. He told them all to go get some sleep and if anything changed, he'd come get them.

It was very early in the morning when Raion woke up for real. Sabo hadn't left his side for anything more than bathroom breaks. Eevee and Chopper floated in and out of the room freely, checking his vitals, the transfusion, things like this. Sabo was reading one of the medical textbooks in the chair next to the bed - some herbal remedies book that was super fascinating - when Raion stirred. He glanced up from his text and a slow, relieved grin spread over his face as he watched his best friend sort through the morphine-induced fog and rise to consciousness.

Raion reached up and gingerly touched his face where the oxygen tube was secured under his nose and taped to his cheek. Just as he was wrapping his fingers around it, Sabo leaned over the bed and stilled his hand.

"Hey, bro!" he grinned, "Rise and shine, princess!"

The Dark Prince turned his head and gave him the most droll stare that had him laughing. Wonderful. The morphine was clearly working.

"I hate these fucking things…" his voice was slow and gravelly and he swallowed hard, "Feels like… like I'm sucking air…"

"Fun fact, humans actually _do_ suck air."

He narrowed his eyes and glanced around, "Where are we?"

"Garp's house."

"Oh…" he was quiet for a minute and Sabo was just about to say something to him to call him back to reality when he continued, "I feel floaty. Am I high?"

"High on life! And morphine."

"Oh."

"How do you feel?" Sabo asked, lifting the bed sheet to check the bandage wrapped heavily around his leg. He had other bandages as well; a couple of butterfly stitches on his face, a few lines of sutures on his arms and bandages over cuts that didn't need mending.

"I have to piss like a motherfucker." every second that went by, he began more and more lucid, at least, as lucid as you could be with god-only-knows how many CCs of morphine being pumped directly into your veins.

"That's what the bed pan is for."

Raion managed to cock a brow, "Fuck you, no. I want a bathroom."

"I can't let you get up," Sabo shook his head. He anticipated already that this was gonna be a losing battle. For him.

"And I said fuck you. I'm not a child. Or an invalid."

"Eevee will have it out at me if I let you get up."

"You take me or I go alone."

"Raion… not a good idea, man. You just lost half your blood supply less than 24 hours ago," Sabo tried to reason, but he could see the hard line of stubbornness that rested above the captain's brow.

"I'm going…" he made what looked like a valiant attempt at sitting up, pushing his elbows into the mattress. Sabo had no choice; he wove his arm behind Raion's back to help him sit up. He wasn't gonna win this round. He never did. Raion was like his father that way - no one could tie him down in a bed for more than a few hours at a time, regardless of the severity of his injuries or sickness.

"Alright. You win. Give me a second and we can go," he moved around the bed and secured the blood drip and the morphine solution to the stand, unplugged the oxygen tube and removed it from Raion's face - to which Raion sighed in relief and Sabo firmly reminded him it was going back on when they came back. To much protest, obviously - and turned off the blood pressure and heart monitor so it wouldn't freak out when he took the sensor off Raion's index finger.

"Okay, big guy, ready?"

"I was born ready."

Sabo laughed and helped Raion stand, bearing most of his best friend's weight. Raion wrapped his hand around the IV stand, using both it and Sabo as a crutch. He tried to put weight on his injured leg and the knee instantly buckled.

"That should hurt, shouldn't it?" he mused out loud, "I feel nothing."

"That's good, means the morphine is working," Sabo replied as they made some sort of awkward shuffle to the bedroom door and out.

Chopper was in the next room and the moment he laid his eyes on the pair, his mouth popped open, "What're you doing?" he demanded, switching to Heavy Point, "Why're you up?"

"We have to go to the bathroom," Sabo explained, sounding like a teacher who was calmly explaining the stupid rational of a five-year-old, "And we decided we had to be an adult about it, apparently."

"Where's my sexy doctor?" Raion demanded, clearly not listening or following the conversation.

"Uh, this is a terrible idea!" Chopper insisted, "His wounds could open!"

"You know, she should have one of those sexy doctor outfits," Raion continued like Chopper and Sabo weren't having a debate about the state of his welfare, "Like, with the short coat and shows all the boob and shit. That'd be hot. I'd let her operate on me."

Chopper pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration as Sabo laughed and patted Raion's face, "He's such a peach on drugs, isn't he? Next time, just say yes, buddy."

"I have to piss. Why're we just standing here? Let's go. Fuck." he demanded.

When she heard Raion's voice, Eevee was in the kitchen preparing some tea. His voiced drifted in from the living room, and she paused what she was doing, wondering if she was hallucinating it.

Chopper's rising voice confirmed that she was not, in fact, hallucinating.

Eevee hurried out of the kitchen in time to catch Raion's last words, and gaped at him as heat filtered into her cheeks. Half of it was due to anger that Raion would get up when he was so injured, and half of it was from what he said about her in a doctor's outfit.

"Raion!" she gasped, and then her mouth worked for a moment as if she didn't know what to say. And she didn't. Sabo had warned her that Raion was really _interesting_ on morphine, and now she could see what he meant. His expression was carefree, as if he hadn't just almost died, and he clearly wasn't feeling any pain.

She supposed that was a good thing. Even morphine couldn't get rid of pain of a certain level, and if he wasn't feeling it, then it meant his body was already starting the recovery phase. She had a feeling he was a fast healer.

She could also tell, from Sabo's expression, that Raion was going to go to the bathroom, and he would do it with or _without_ help.

Finally, Eevee sighed and pinned a glare at Sabo, deciding her best course of action, especially in public, was to ignore everything the drugged out patient said and deal with the sane people. She'd dealt with enough drugged individuals to know that what they said couldn't be taken at face value. "Sabo, please make sure he is not putting _any_ weight on his bad leg, and get him back into bed immediately after he is done. Then Chopper and I are going to want to do a vitals check and see how things are going with the wound."

Sabo's face became a tad more serious, and he nodded his head in affirmation. "Yes ma'am. I'll have him back in a jiffy, don't you worry. Come on, senchou…doctor's orders. We gotta get moving."

Raion spent 48 hours utterly and completely blazed on morphine. He slept a lot of that time, which was normal. His family visited him and so did his nakama - under very supervised conditions. No one wanted another 'accident' like Eevee had the other night - during his lucid moments. Sabo barely left, making it his personal objective to see to anything Raion needed that didn't require a doctor and to act as a buffer when his captain didn't censor the flow of word vomit that came out of his mouth. Already he'd made Eevee flush hard three times with his lewd remarks, Margherita almost punched him and Nami shook her finger at him and resisted the urge to scold him. Luffy, Rouge and Lukas just laughed and laughed at him.

It was towards the end of this 48 hours that found Raion and Sabo sitting on the bed, Raion propped up on some pillows and Sabo at the foot. Between them was a chess board.

"Did you just move?" Raion asked, frowning at the board.

"I did."

"No, you didn't, you jerk. You're lying."

Sabo laughed at him, "I'm not. I just moved my knight. Careful, I might actually beat you at this game. Again."

He rubbed the heels of his hands into his eyes, "Is Eevee gonna turn down this fucking morphine shit soon? I can't focus. I'm tired of being high."

"Tonight, she said. But you still have to stay all hooked up for a couple more days."

"What?!" Raion exclaimed, "Seriously? I smell mutiny."

"Your move, senchou."

Raion took a deep breath and tried to muster as much mental focus on the game board as possible. Which was incredibly difficult. His mind felt like it was wandering through a museum of thoughts, constantly changing directions. Normally he loved this game. He and Sabo could play viciously for hours, again and again. He was probably the only person around that could actually beat the blonde man occasionally.

Not today, but usually.

He moved his rook impulsively and knew it was a bad move by the way Sabo first frowned, the shrugged and grinned, "So, the crew is getting antsy…" his vice-captain supplied.

"Ya gotta be clearer than that…"

Sabo shrugged, "They asked yesterday where we were going after we left here. Margherita asked, actually."

Raion made a face, "Hmm… let's go to Rum Reef!"

Sabo blinked at him, "What? Seriously? You wanna go to Rum Reef?"

"Ya! That'll be fun!" Rum Reef was a trading town by definition, but it was the place to be if you wanted a more _sordid_ trade. Pirates and those of the criminal persuasion flocked the place like Piranha. It was wild, it was loud, it was a continuous drunken brawl and someone always died. It was fantastic.

Sabo moved his queen, "You only ever wanna go there to drink heavily and fuck women."

"Well, duh. It's not like we go to do _trade_ there. Leave that to Rouge and her motley crew of smugglers."

His vice captain gave him a look, "So that's it then?"

"That's what then? Dude, I can't handle your fucking vague subtleties right now."

"Eevee, Raion. What about Eevee?"

"What about her?" he moved his knight.

Sabo sighed, "I thought you liked her, you know, more than just friends."

"'Course I like her. I like her a lot."

Sabo lit up, "So… so what then? You gonna like, date?" the hope on his face was almost heartbreaking.

"No way. I don't work like that, bro. She's not it."

"You haven't given it an honest enough try. She likes you." Sabo captured his knight, "Check."

"No. There's nothing to try. I'll know when I know."

"Raion, love doesn't work like picking nakama."

"Whoa!" Raion held up his hands, "Who said anything about love? I didn't. I don't fall in love. Let's not talk about that. It freaks me out and makes me confused." he pushed his King to another square, "So we fucked. It's not like I'm gonna marry her, for crissake. The rules don't apply here. She's just nakama."

"I'm gonna end up cleaning up your mess, I can tell."

"What mess? Who's making a mess?"

"You are," Sabo moved his queen, "I just have a feeling your whole philosophy is gonna blow up in your face and I'll be left picking up the pieces. Check mate, by the way."

"Damn it! How the fuck did you win? Again, you swaggering rascal."

Sabo laughed and reset the board.

Eevee had a tray of soup and tea in her hands—liquid diet was always recommended for post-op patients—and was just about to knock on the door when she overheard her name being said through the wood. She paused, feeling like her hearing had instantly sharpened in response. Normally, Eevee would never be caught listening at doors, it simply wasn't proper, but this was Raion…and she was already fairly confused about him and her feelings. A need for any insight into the situation held her captive and still, freezing her breath in her lungs as she listened in on their conversation about her.

What she heard, though, made her stomach shrivel up. It became very clear that her feelings for Raion were completely unrequited. Clearly, she was the only one who'd let emotions get involved in their relationship—scratch that, it wasn't a relationship, as he pronounced most adamantly.

 _She's just nakama._

The words felt like a needle jabbing her in the heart. Eevee felt her breath ease out of her lungs in response to her chest tightening, and her eyes prickled uncomfortably. The fact that she wanted to cry about this only made her mad. She whirled around on the balls of her feet, intending to leave, then glanced down at the tray she was holding.

She was a doctor. No matter her own feelings, she had an obligation to her patient. She stared at the bowl of soup for a solid minute, and she was glad that no one else was currently in the living room to see her.

Laughter floated from inside, and she squeezed her eyes shut, feeling ridiculous. A million unhappy thoughts flashed through her mind, and she forced herself to cut them off. She was a pirate now…she wasn't allowed to be a coward anymore, and that meant both to physical adversaries as well as mental ones. And…emotional ones.

She was strong. She was stronger now than she'd ever been in her life. She couldn't let something like this ruin everything she'd worked so hard for.

Squaring her shoulders, Eevee turned back around, and used her foot to knock on the door.

After a moment, the door was pulled open and Sabo peered out. Seeing her, an expression of surprise crossed his features for a brief moment before a smile covered it up. "Oh, hello doctor…" his eyes fell down to the tray in her hands. "Dinner time is it?"

Eevee pulled a smile up on her face and nodded. Sabo paused a moment, and he seemed to be studying her features. His eyes flickered back into the room, towards Raion, before returning to her. He opened his mouth, looking at her features and the set of her shoulders, then closed it, thinking better about what he wanted to say. It took all of her effort to keep her smile in place when she saw the flicker of pity in his features before he stepped back and opened the door wide for her. Was it that obvious, that she'd overheard?

She'd have to try harder then. She forced her smile wider and said, forcing as much cheer into her voice as possible, "I'm sure he's going to love it too." She tried to inject as much teasing into her voice as possible as she stepped past Sabo and entered the room. Her heart tightened in her chest when her eyes fell on Raion, and her smile faltered for a minute, but thankfully Raion was on morphine, and she suspected he wouldn't notice.

Sabo was quiet behind her, and only after a delay did he chuckle at her comment. "Oh, yeah, Raion _loves_ soup."

Eevee found herself unable to meet his eyes, no matter how hard she tried. So she placed the tray on his lap, and immediately moved to the machines he was hooked up to. "I'm going to check your vitals real quick too…you're healing remarkably quickly, so I'm sure there isn't anything to worry about," Eevee told him, and her doctor voice saved her as it effortlessly took over. Being professional in this situation was normal and kept her from having to force cheeriness on her face. If only Sabo would stop staring at her…

Eevee moved quickly and efficiently, taking his blood pressure and pulse, and quickly checking the wound. Then she grabbed the spoon lying next to the bowl of soup, and turned to Sabo, holding it out to him. "Make sure he eats all of it, please. Doctor's orders." She flashed a smile at him, which Sabo returned half-heartedly, then hurried around the blond man and out the door.

In the silence of the living room, she paused, closing her eyes and sucking in air. Why did it hurt so much? Feeling foolish with herself, Eevee went in search of Chopper. She'd tell the other doctor that she was exhausted and request that he take over.

Back in the room, Sabo stared at the door that Eevee had left through, feeling sadness for the girl. She put on a brave show, but Sabo had seen her feelings for his captain more than once; it couldn't be easy to hear what Raion had just said. He could only hope that his captain would come to his senses and rectify things between them. Despite what his captain said, he suspected that he felt more for their fair doctor than normal nakama feelings: he just refused to see it.

With a sigh, he turned back to Raion and held up the spoon. "Am I gonna have to play airplane with you?" he asked with a rueful smile, deciding against telling his captain that he suspected Eevee had overheard their discussion about her.

A few more days and Raion was healed enough for them to set sail. Eevee turned down the morphine drip and since then, several things had been happening. Firstly, he hadn't seen much of his lady doctor. The next time someone came in to check is numbers, it was Chopper. Raion had asked where she was, but the reindeer had simply said that she was tired and she was resting.

That bothered him. And it bothered him that he was bothered. So what did he do instead? He started leaving his bed without permission and taking walks around town. He'd go with anyone who'd take him; Sabo, Luffy, Zoro, Lukas. The women were too fussy, so it was mostly the guys in his family. He needed to build up his strength again. His muscle had been chewed through pretty good. He had to be on the top of his game again.

It had been decided that the crew was going to Rum Reef. There had been some raised brows at the idea but as they got closer to sailing, the crew got more excited to be on the ocean again. Being on land when you lived your life on a boat took adjusting. Rouge and Lukas wouldn't be joining them this time. They had jobs of their own to do.

"Though! Rum Reef is a hopping good time! We'll have to go soon, right, babe?" Rouge said, turning to Lukas.

He shrugged, "Oh, sure. Sordid affairs at their finest."

They were loading the ship with supplies. Raion was on board, feeling almost good as new. He still had a little limp and bandages wrapped around his thigh, but his other cuts had healed to just little pink scars now.

On the docks, nearly the whole town had turned out to say farewells. All the Straw Hats, Rouge, Lukas, Mara, Dahlia… Sabo was lingering on the docks, speaking in rapid French with her. Raion watched for a minute. There was something lovely about the way his best friend interacted with Dahlia. Sabo _loved_ to love Dahlia. And it was evident in the way he walked and talked. Raion felt a touch of envy burn through him as quickly as it came.

Dahlia pinched his face in her hand and shook it gently back and forth, frowning. Sabo laughed. Then, he kissed her and he jumped on board the Hebi-Go. Dahlia wrapped her arms around her torso and Raion could practically feel her heart hurting.

"Senchou! We're ready!" Margherita said.

He nodded and glanced back at everyone. Goodbyes were never sad for him. He was never far from home long. He couldn't be.

"Dahlia!" he called. Her golden eyes widened in expectation and she started to shake her head, knowing what he was going to say, "Join my crew!"

She smiled and laughed and shook her head. He asked her every time. And every time, the answer was the same, "No, Raion." she never said why. Simply… no.

"Come on. You'll change your mind someday," he grinned. But he knew why she wouldn't come and join them. He didn't want her there for his own selfish purposes. He wanted her there for Sabo. And that's not how nakama joined his crew.

Sabo laughed from behind him and said something in French that caused Dahlia to laugh behind her hand.

"I love you!" he shouted with a wide grin and she waved.

"Behave yourselves!" Nami called.

"Kick some ass for me!" Luffy shouted gleefully.

Raion laughed and waved.

Since departing from Fuusha Village, Eevee found herself settling back into the life of a seafaring pirate, but the feeling in her chest was different. Gone was the giddy excitement that she felt every morning when she woke up. A heaviness had fallen over her, and when it persisted for a few days, she was forced to accept the reason.

She truly had fallen in love with Raion…and after hearing how he truly felt about her, she was heartbroken. That was the bare-bones truth of it. In a way, the realization angered her; how dare he ruin the dream she'd pined for her whole life! The truth, though, was that he wasn't to blame, which made it even harder. It was her own fault for letting herself get so attached.

She'd always wanted to be a pirate for the freedom it gave a person. She'd lost a part of that freedom by giving her heart to Raion. She had only herself to blame, and a part of her wondered if she could recover from this. Could she step away from her feelings for Raion and enjoy being a part of his crew again? Could she be happy simply being his nakama, and nothing more?

At first, she felt confident in that, because she'd wanted this life for so long and so strongly that it seemed impossible that anything could ruin it. She told herself that this was her first time being in love, and that was why it felt so devastating. She told herself that with time, it would feel better, and that she could enjoy being around him without feeling that painful squeeze in her heart every time she heard his voice.

But as the days passed, she only felt _worse_ , not better. She began avoiding him even more. She was the first to show up for breakfast, earning herself curious glanced from Zeke, though the fish man never said anything. Sabo began training her again, and that was a welcome relief. At first, Sabo had seemed overly cheerful during their sessions, and Eevee wondered if he was trying to bring back her previous enthusiasm as well. It felt, to Eevee, like they'd reached a silent understanding about things, as if no words were needed for either of them to understand the situation and her feelings, even if Eevee never acknowledged this. After a few days of this false-cheerfulness, he seemed to realize the futility of it, and became much more serious and straightforward in his instruction.

Training became her salvation. It was a welcome distraction that she took to with vigor, and she pushed herself harder than she ever had before. One evening, when it was raining and Sabo suggested they call off their training, Eevee had insisted, much to Sabo's surprise. After that night, her vice-captain seemed to figure out that she was relying on his training to help her get over Raion…and amped up his teaching. Seeing that she was pushing herself harder, he began to push her hard too.

A sort of tension had suffused the ship, one that Eevee was oblivious to because she was too wrapped up in her own thoughts. Margherita was the first, besides Sabo, to realize what was happening. She watched Eevee, and she watched her captain. She was also the first to become angry about it, unlike Sabo, who knew his best friend too well to waste energy on being mad. While she didn't confront her captain, Margherita became clipped and short with him, and avoided him almost as much as Eevee did.

Margherita, more than she'd known, had begun to rely on Eevee and Raion as a pair. She'd begun rooting for them, and had become invested in that outcome. Having had a crush on her captain for such a long time, she'd only been able to relinquish it thanks to Eevee and seeing how perfectly the two seemed to belong together. Eevee had been the hope that Raion's whoring ways were over, and because she loved Raion, Margherita had wanted better for him than all of the endless, often name-less women he was famous for cavorting with. Eevee had seemed like the ideal solution.

She didn't know what, exactly, had transpired, but the one time she'd tried to ask Eevee, the doctor had brushed her off and said it was nothing, that there had never been anything between them other than casual attraction. Margherita had smelled the lie in an instant, and it stank of self-denial. She could also feel the hurt that Eevee was feeling, even through the woman's smiles and reassurances that she was fine. It was obvious in the way she was throwing herself into training, and it was obvious in the way that she wouldn't even look at their captain.

So, naturally, Margherita blamed her captain. She'd always suspected that Raion was afraid of commitment, and now she knew for certain. He must have gotten scared by what was happening between him and the doctor, and had cut things off. Margherita only hoped that he came to his senses before it was too late.

Raion hadn't always been a man-whore.

Among his talents like swordplay, navigation and music, growing up Raion had discovered that he was _quite_ good at getting what he wanted. It wasn't all with lies and deception either; he was simply a very intelligent little boy. Nami had often said he was "too smart for his own good".

He simply had an aptitude for getting exactly what he wanted all the time.

After he hit puberty and the results of his training in the dojo with Zoro all the time started to actually show, well, popular conversation around the mirrors in the girls' bathrooms at school was who was going to get to kiss the roguish, troublesome son of the Pirate King.

It became his leverage and he realized then that his mind wasn't the only tool he could use for currency. His body worked just fine for that too, in the right situations. And because he really enjoyed getting what he wanted, it hadn't been useful for him to have a "girlfriend". Eventually, as he got older and especially after he set sail, it became less about equivalent exchange and more about the sex. Then it became less about the actual sex and more about what it represented; fun and freedom.

Sure, he always held it in the back of his mind that someday he'd liked to settle down. Find some cute thing that made him crazy, that loved him like his mother loved his father. Someone he could love like Sabo loved Dahlia. But love seemed like a fool's game of finding a needle in a haystack and besides, he enjoyed his little flings. That whole idea of having a "girlfriend" and wasting his time with someone that wasn't meant to be was utterly erroneous when compared to the fun he was having as it was.

And that's where it came from. 'He's got eyes that'll met your insides', 'His voice is made of sin', 'There's black velvet in that boy's smile'.

Best of all: "Raion's a man-whore and he doesn't commit.'

Just after his surgery, he suspected that Eevee was avoiding him. It itched the back of his skull in a way that no amount of scratching could satisfy. Once they'd set sail for Rum Reef though, it became apparent that she was avoiding him. She barely spoke to him anymore. He'd arrive for breakfast in the morning, she was just leaving. She'd spend all day training with Sabo or locked in her office. Dinner was similar; he'd show up, she was just leaving or he'd leave and she'd magically show up. It was a dance they were doing; she seemed to find every excuse to not interact with him and he didn't push her. Because as much as he didn't want to think about it, he wasn't an idiot.

Eevee had invested herself into their casual affair.

He knew it. He told himself this at the beginning; fucking around with nakama was messy business. It was crossing the line between business and pleasure. Being nakama was a lifelong contract and when you started putting barriers up like unreciprocated love and sex, it started to get in the way of what being nakama meant.

This was a disaster. This was a disaster on so many levels.

Raion was a little invested in this whole thing too. And it was terrible.

He knew, of course, that he had something really undeniable for his lady doctor. He knew it and he knew that he felt it but having her actively ignore him hurt more than he cared to admit. He was a fool. He was a fool to think that there was such a thing as friends with benefits, that it wouldn't interfere with their business relationship. He was a fool to think that fucking nakama couldn't be all that problematic. He was a fool for wasting his time and his feelings for someone that wasn't 'the one'.

Tension was running high on board by the time they docked at Rum Reef. Margherita had stopped talking to him for lord only knows what teenage hormone she was experiencing. Eevee obviously wasn't speaking to him and even Sabo was a little on the somber side, though Raion had convinced himself it was because he'd had to leave Dahlia. The Twins weren't even talking much and he couldn't decide if that was simply because of their character or him. Needless to say, it didn't feel like anyone liked him all that much right now on board.

He felt like an idiot and he _despised_ that feeling. Anything that made him feel inferior or insecure. He loathed it passionately.

Rum Reef was hopping. It was absolute craziness born directly from dealing with riff-raff. The docks were packed with mostly men in varying degrees of ruthless and uncivilized. A few women were mixed into the bunch, rough looking women, intimidating pirate women with a sprinkle of dazzling beauties.

That's what he needed. He needed a good fuck from some other chit to set him straight. Nothing like falling back on the familiar pattern of getting strange and breaking hearts. And what a statement that would make to the crew; that everything was fine and normal. Nothing was different and that would be comforting for them.

Ya. Good plan.

They hit the docks and his eyes immediately sought out Eevee as her and Margherita linked arms like best friends. She was wearing a loose shirt that hung over one bare shoulder and a pair of short shorts and sandals. Around her hips was a small pouch no bigger than his hand.

He grabbed Sabo, "Does she have weapons in that little bag of hers?" he asked. It felt a little strange to not ask Eevee herself.

Sabo glanced at what Raion was talking about and nodded, "Ya. Those little kunai knives I told you about. Good for throwing. We've been practicing with them. And smoke bombs and stuff too. We've been hard at work this week in our training." he grinned, but it wasn't the full Sabo-grin that Raion was used to.

He nodded, "Good. It's rough in here, that's all."

As they debarked from the Hebi-go amid the bustle of the docks, Eevee wasn't sure what she should be expecting from this island. She'd gathered that it was a meeting place of pirates, and that it was famous for the parties that happened here, but then she was truly prepared for the sheer _magnitude_ of pirates everywhere. Many of them she recognized from the papers and carried very large bounties. After her last encounter with powerful pirates, she was a little jumpy. Margherita had her arm linked with hers, and accompanied her as they wound their way through the throng of people. Behind them, Titus and Zeke weren't far behind, and Eevee wondered if their presence wasn't a result of the disaster that happened the last time Margherita and Eevee were alone.

"Dinner at the Bald Seagull sounds amazing right now. The cook their is actually really good. That's probably where all of our crew will wind up. They have the cheapest drinks in town too," Margherita told her as they walked down a street that was lined with merchants on either side. The merchandize was varied and often illicit looking, ranging from rare animals to dangerous looking weapons. "Jeeze, try not to look so surprised. I'm afraid your eyeballs are going to fall out of your head. Makes you look too innocent; we don't want any more attention for that," Margherita added with a snort, glancing around her quickly to see if anyone was staring.

And they were, but not necessarily for the reason's Margherita was worried about. Eevee's hair was down, and the shinning auburn strands against her striking violet eyes drew eyes no matter where she went. Luckily, it didn't take them long to reach the Bald Seagull, a tavern that was loud and ruckus and already bursting with pirates drinking and singing.

They went inside, Zeke and Titus having to bend a little to get through the doors. Eevee had lost sight of Sabo and Raion, and forced herself not to care about their whereabouts. Inside, it was packed. All of the tables were taken, and as Margharita and Eevee wound their way through the tables, they were stopped when one woman leaned over and shouted Margherita's name.

Eevee looked over to see a heavier-set woman with long, curling black hair. Her skin was a rich, tanned color and her eyes were a piercing gray. She was beautiful, despite her heavier set, and her grin was wide as she beckoned them with her hands, "Margherita!"

"Anna Maria?" Margherita said, then grinned widely and tugged Eevee towards them, "girl! It's been _ages!"_ Zeke and Titus lumbered after them, looking for all the world like guard dogs behind the two girls. Margherita glanced back at Eevee, a big grin across her face, "Anna Maria and I were mates back before I was a pirate, back when I was an urchin. We had each other's backs on the streets," she told Eevee, using the term for an orphan child who lived on the streets. She looked back at her old friend as they came up to the side of a table that had six people sitting around it, two women, including Anna Maria, and four men. The other woman had short-cropped blond hair and piercing black eyes that were as sharp as a hawks. Her features were sharp and somewhat severe looking, and she had a striking resemblance to the man sitting next to her, who shared her coloring but was almost half a foot taller sitting in the chair. One of the men had dark skin and deep brown eyes, a gold eating in one ear, but his face was friendly and he nodded a greeting as they approached. The other two men were pale-skinned as well, one with long black hair pulled back at the nape of his neck and the other with short brown hair that was shaved off on half of his head. The brunette bobbed his head in greeting while the black-haired man simply observed them from under his black brows.

Margherita stopped in front of her friend, releasing Eevee and opening her arms, "You haven't changed a bit, chica, I've missed you!"

"Me too! I hear you're a pirate now…So am I!" the woman said gleefully as she leapt to her feet and swept Margherita up in a big hug. Eevee blinked, surprised. The woman was almost six feet tall, and her voice held slight accent to it as she rolled her r's.

"No way!" Margherita exclaimed, glanced behind the woman at the five people sitting around the wound table. "Is that your crew?"

The woman grinned and nodded, half turning and indicating her hand towards the short-haired blond woman. "This is our Captain, Mercedes. We're the Golden Hawk Pirates." The blond woman lifted her mug in greeting and offered Margherita and Eevee a smile, before her eyes flickered over their heads and took in Zeke and Titus, to which her grin widened even more.

"Those your bodyguards, small fry?" the woman asked Margherita, and her voice was surprisingly deep for such a small woman.

Margherita let out a laugh and glanced back at Zeke and Titus, who's expressions remained unchanged. "No, their part of _my_ crew. We're the Black Mamba Pirates."

Every single individual at the table sat up a little straighter, and the man with the black hair narrowed his eyes. Anna Maria looked surprised, glancing from Margherita to Eevee to the two fish men behind them. "You…you're the Dark Prince's crew?" she asked, her voice betraying her disbelief.

Margherita grinned and nodded, her chest puffing up a little and Eevee couldn't help but smile a little at the instant respect in Anna Maria's eyes. Even their Captain looked at them a little admiringly.

"Well, you got yourself into a good crew then," Anna Maria said with a laugh, and motioned her hand towards the two empty chairs at the table. "Have a seat! Join us for some drinks! I'm sure you can wrangle two more chairs from somewhere, eh, _hombrés?_ " Anna Maria said as she grinned at the fish men.

Margherita immediately took a seat next to Anna Maria, perching on the edge of her chair. "So, this is Eevee, our doctor, and those are Titus and Zeke, our shipwright and cook." Eevee smiled and nodded in greeting as she slowly took a seat next to Margherita. Titus and Zeke produced chairs and set them down close to Margherita and Eevee.

Anna Maria grinned at all of them, " _Prazer_ _,_ nice to meet you! This is Coal, Mercedes' brother," she indicated the man sitting next to her captain, "Kujak," she pointed at the black man, who grinned at them and raised a hand, "Tommy," she pointed to the black-haired man, who simply stared at them, "don't worry he's not being unfriendly, that's just his face. And Garreth," she pointed out the brunette last, who lifted his hand and nodded his head in greeting.

With that, the ice was broken. Food and drinks were ordered, and the merriment began. Eevee found herself relaxing for the first time in what seemed like days. It didn't take long for her to figure out that she really liked Margherita's friend, Anna Maria, and her crew. Even Titus and Zeke began smiling as laughter began erupting around the table as pirate stories were traded back and forth between Margherita and Anna Maria.

Sabo dragged him with him to the gold exchanger. Rouge had cut them a percentage of the treasure she'd received for the trade of the white obsidian and since Sabo took care of the books on the Hebi, he declared that it was too dangerous for them to be traveling with the sheer amount of gold they had stored.

Raion tried not to watch Eevee as she and the rest of his crew headed in the opposite direction, most likely to the Bald Seagull Tavern where they haunted most often here. He legitimately felt sick in his stomach and no amount of self-pep talk could quell the burning sensation. He was in deep with her and he told himself it was a good thing that he was recognizing it now so that he could pull back. Better to pull back now and get a few scratches than come outta this with a broken heart and one less crew member.

"I'll give you 75 million beris for the lot."

He whipped his head around to stare at the gold exchanger. Instead of dragging the gold across town - very unwise - they'd asked the man and two of his associates to accompany them back to the ship for the appraisal.

"Excuse me?" Raion drawled.

"75 million beris."

Now, Raion let Sabo take charge of the books on board because frankly, Raion was too busy. A long time ago, they'd split the important tasks on a ship fifty-fifty. Raion bore the responsibilities and consequences of being the captain and Sabo kept the underlying functions of the ship organized such as supplies, funds, etc. But that didn't mean that he didn't know how much gold was sitting in this cabin. His mother was the cat burglar, for crissake.

"No," Sabo stated firmly, crossing his arms over his chest, "Double that."

"Gentleman," the man placated them, "I'm a businessman, surely, you understand that I cannot _double_ my offer."

"Do you know how much this man is worth?" Raion pointed to Sabo.

The exchanger shook his head slowly, "I don't keep up on the numbers, per say."

"250 million beris," Raion continued, "I'd rethink your offer, boss."

"The value of gold fluctuates constantly…"

"There's a reason I'm worth 250 million beris," Sabo grinned maniacally, "And I'm not the captain."

"I am…" Raion matched Sabo's expression, "So how much is our gold worth?"

The man swiveled his head back and forth between them, clearly contemplating if and how he could continue to swindle them, "130 million beris…" he offered.

Raion clicked his swords open with his right hand, the sound ominous and threatening all on its own, "How much? Sorry, I didn't hear you over the sound of me taking my gold elsewhere…"

"150 million, then," the exchanger said, "Not a beri more, I'm afraid."

Sabo's smile shifted and he shook the man's hand enthusiastically, "Shall we draw up the paperwork then?"

Twenty minutes later and Sabo was locking their money away in the hidden safe in the galley.

"So, how much money do we have now, Mr. Treasurer?" Raion asked, leaning casually against the wall. He watched as Sabo mouthed some numbers and ticked his fingers. Then he grinned and shut the safe.

"We could buy a small island," he replied gleefully.

"Just a small one? You underestimate my ability to negotiate…"

The vice-captain laughed, "A medium sized island. And then some."

It was growing late. The sun had set and a dark twilight blanketed the streets, turning them a shadowy gray with dapples of night. Street lights flickered to life as the boys wove their way through the throngs of people towards the Bald Seagull Tavern. People tussled in the streets, brushing shoulders against each other, vying for the last few minutes of a merchant's time to get the best deal and the best goods. Even the streets smelled of smoke and sweat and booze. The smell of criminals. He couldn't say he felt most comfortable in this environment, but he certainly felt respected. People shuffled out of their way or nudged their companions to point. Pirates called out greetings to him, some he knew, some he didn't.

"Hey! Kurai-oji!"

"Look! Oji-sama!"

"Kaizoku-oji! Fuku-senchou!"

All of the criminal underground knew them and most respected them. It was the lumbering, arrogant idiots who thought otherwise. Many had known his father, all the smugglers knew Rouge. Really, in the world of elicit affairs, it was about three things; who you knew, how powerful you were and how you commanded that power. Little else was of consequence.

For the last four years or so of sailing, Raion had made his job to _travel_. To go everywhere, do anything, meet everyone. He stood for everything that Luffy and the Straw Hats had made and then some. He was the Pirate Prince, the sole inheritor of the Pirate King's massive territory. But that alone hadn't meant he was worthy of the title. He was the demonstrator of strength, proof to those who had jumped on Luffy's retirement as a chance to take over. No. Because Raion and the Black Mambas were there, protecting their territory, solidifying that the Pirate King had not gone _soft._ Either you stood for the King of the Pirates or you were against him and if you were the latter, then you needed to watch your back or the Pirate Prince would find you.

The Bald Seagull was packed, nearly standing room only and bursting with noise that could be heard from three streets away. They walked in and immediately, the front of the room near the door went hushed. Then exploded with cheering as people clambered to get a piece of either Raion or Sabo's attention. The two boys were never seen apart and despite that the Marines had deemed Sabo as the "First Mate", the pirate community saw them more as a joint partnership. Sabo insisted he had no desire to be a captain, but he was charming, social and far more likable than Raion could ever dream of being and so, he was everyone's "fuku-senchou".

Sabo was dragged away laughing by a group of eager young men who wanted him to play a game with them. Raion was immediately set upon by… women. Three of them, to be exact.

"Raion-oji-sama!" they gushed, "It's been so long! Where've you been?" they linked his arms and forcefully maneuvered him over to their table.

He chuckled, "Ladies, I'm a busy man," he couldn't be certain if he'd ever met these females before. Beautiful women trounced through his life in droves. He didn't have to seek them out; they came to him. What could he say? The attention made him feel good and especially right now when his crew seemed to hate his guts.

Particularly a bright eyed redhead. Who was four or five tables over, laughing with Margherita, the Twins and some other people. God fucking damn it, she messed him up.

"What can we get you to drink, Raion-sama?" one of the women asked him, running her fingers through his hair. She was pretty, he supposed, with short blonde curls that were pinned back from her face.

"Sake," he dragged his eyes off Eevee and grinned, "And keep it coming."

Eevee knew the moment Raion walked in to the Bald Seagull. It was a relief to have a name to her hunches, and it seemed her Haki was particularly tuned to her captain. She glanced towards the door, watching as Raion and Sabo both strode in. Almost immediately, three women went right up to him, and Eevee felt as if her skin was shrunk too small for her body and ice had been poured down her throat at the sight of them fawning over him, one of them running her fingers through his hair.

Suddenly, it was hard to breathe. She forced her eyes away from the spectacle, just as everyone erupted into laughter over something Margherita was saying. Eevee forced herself to laugh too, but the sound was hollow to her ears.

Margherita glanced over at her, and frowned. "You okay?" she asked, notching Eevee's somewhat pinched features. Eevee forced up a smile and nodded, but Margherita finally noticed Sabo and Raion, her eyes flickering over Eevee's head and taking in the scene. She was quiet for a moment, her expression flickering from surprise to anger. She looked back at Eevee, scowling. "Do you want to go somewhere else?" she asked the doctor.

"No! No…I'm fine, really. Must be the food or something, not sitting well with me," Eevee lied, and knew that Margherita saw right through it.

"Hey! What's up, buttercup? You look like you're about to throw up," Anna Maria suddenly leaned across Margherita and peered closely at Eevee. "Already ready to puke after two drinks?" Over the last hour that they'd been there, Eevee had really grown to like the woman. She was brash, brazen, and straightforward, but she was also funny and carefree. She had a lot of sass to her, completely at odds with her cool and calm captain, and it seemed to suite the crew that way.

"No, that's not it. It's nothing, I'm fine," Eevee reassured her, holding up her hands.

"She's lying, Anna…Eevee's in love with our captain, who strung her along for a few weeks then dropped her like a sack of potatoes. Now he's over there flirting with not one, but THREE women. Right in front of her!" Margherita said, her voice tight and her eyes sparking with frustration as she glared at her captain across the tavern.

Anna Maria blinked, and Eevee stared at Margherita, her mouth slightly open in disbelief. One, Eevee was surprised by how _accurately_ she described the situation as it made her feel, and two, that she would just blurt it out to Anna Maria.

The dark-haired woman let out a 'Hmmm' noise as her eyes flickered over to the Dark Prince. "That can't be comfortable for you, chica," Anna Maria said to Eevee.

Eevee looked down, to where she was holding her mug of ale in her lap, and said hurriedly, "I'm not in love with him. This…this is how pirate relationships work," Eevee reassured her, pulling up a fake smile and hoping she looked convincing. "It's fine, really."

While Eeve's eyes were downcast, Anna Maria shot a glance at Margherita, who shook her head silently, and Anna Maria let out a sigh and a nod, dropping the topic. It was obviously something Eevee didn't want to talk about. Conversation resumed around the table, and more drinks were ordered. As the night progressed, and things continued to become more and more rowdy—as things tended to go when pirates gathered to drink together—Anna Maria kept her eye on the auburn-haired doctor, and on the Pirate Prince too.

The blonde's name was Sammy and she was the daughter of a pirate merchant. She was pretty enough and had glued herself to his side in a possessive gesture that told her girlfriends "back off, ladies. The Dark Prince is mine for the night".

And that suited him just fine.

Once he'd been parked in his seat at their table, he didn't move. People came over to them and eventually, the table grew in size as more chairs were pulled up and bodies were packed in tightly. Games started and more importantly, drinking. And drinking continued. And continued.

There wasn't enough sake in the whole world that could make him stop glancing over his shoulder back to Eevee every few minutes like he had a nervous twitch. Or enough to confuse the blonde next to him for her. God, she was screwing with his head and she wasn't even near him. Hell, she wasn't even looking his way with those wide eyes of hers.

The blonde said his name and he turned his attention to her, forcing his game face on as she ran her fingers through his hair and down his neck, scratching her nails along his skin lightly. A huge part of him wanted to go through with this. He wanted the normalcy back, the confusion to go away. One night stands weren't confusing. He had a pattern and he wanted that back because he was hoping it would drive away the demons that haunted him.

A smaller part of him… did not want to do this at all. Part of him wanted to go over to Eevee's table and drag her away and apologize for whatever he did to make her actively avoid him and beg her to be nakama. His pride kept him away though.

Evening turned into night and the night dragged on. And when Sabo finally came back over to his table, Raion was just drunk enough to listen to him and a touch too drunk to give a fuck.

Sammy was sitting in his lap and he was playing a hand in the poker game on the table. She was laughing and whispering things in his ear that would make lesser men faint when he felt a hand drop on his shoulder. He glanced up to see Sabo behind him.

"Hey!" he greeted, "Wanna play poker?"

"Fuku-senchou!" some of the girls at the table cooed.

Sabo grinned and tipped his chin at them before turning his light eyes back to Raion, "Can I talk to you, senchou?"

"Sure," Raion shrugged.

"Alone."

He raised a brow at that, but handed his cards to Sammy and she pouted, "Bring him back to me, fuku-senchou!" she whined, perching on the edge of the chair as Sabo yanked Raion over to an empty-ish part of the bar.

"What are you doing?" Sabo hissed, his blue eyes icy.

Whoa. Raion held up his hands innocently and jerked his thumb over his shoulder, "Dude, I was just playing poker."

"That's not what I meant," he tipped his chin towards the table, "Why are you letting that girl all over you?"

"So what?" Raion crossed his arms over his chest, "Since when has it bothered you if I hook up?"

"What about Eevee?"

He stiffened, "We talked about this already."

Sabo sighed, "I didn't think you were serious, for crissake!"

"Of course I'm serious!"

"You're fucking this up," Sabo warned, pointing in his face, "You need to leave that chit alone or at least have friggin' decorum and be subtle!"

"No. I'll do what I want. No one tells me what to do. That's why I'm the captain."

"You are making some terrible decisions, _captain_. Eevee really likes you! You should respect her feelings!"

This whole conversation was making him angrier and angrier. He was trying to push Eevee out of his mind and focus on other things and he didn't want to be having this 'talk' and he didn't want to hear anything about her. He just wanted to have a good time, damn it!

"You know, fuck this. I don't have to listen to this shit," Raion turned on his heel and marched back to the table. He didn't even look back at Sabo, but if he had, he would have seen his best friend drop his head into his hands and shake it in defeat. Raion stopped right behind the blonde girl, Sammy, grabbed her hair, yanked her head back and kissed her.

Whistles erupted around the table and he tried not to feel like a little part of him was dying inside.

"Say good bye to your friends," he told her quietly and her brown eyes lit up. She nodded enthusiastically and waved at her friends, who gaped at her. He grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the bar, not daring to look back.

As the night dragged on, Eevee felt more and more like she was going to be sick. Several tables over, a gorgeous blond woman with her breasts practically spilling out of her top was sitting on Raion's lap, stroking him with her hands. Occasionally, she would whisper something in his ear, her lips brushing the skin and her face bellying the type of things she was saying; sexual, heated words.

Eevee couldn't look. She was desperate to keep her eyes away from that scene. But the picture was already burned into her mind, and she couldn't un-see it. It was becoming more and more difficult to pay attention to the conversation around her own table.

At one point, Margherita had vacated her chair and was having a drinking contest with the dark-skinned man, Kujak, and suddenly Anna Maria sat herself down next to Eevee. Eevee looked up, startled from her dark thoughts, and forced a smile for the woman.

"You look like you need to throw up," the woman said casually, her eyes flickering over Eevee's head towards the table where the Dark Prince was playing poker with a blond in his lap. "I don't blame you; if I had it bad for someone and they were fooling around with another woman in the same room as me…heck, I'd probably deck both of em'" Anna Maria said with laugh, and Eevee didn't know what to say, so she just looked down into her mug.

Anna Maria was silent a moment, watching Eevee's pinched face. Then she let out a sigh and tugged her chair closer to Eevee's and leaned close to the girl. "Hey, listen…you really got it bad with him, don't you?"

Eevee glanced up at her and shook her head vehemently, "No, no, really, it's fine, I—"

"Don't lie to me, chica. You're putting up a brave face, but I can tell that you're dying inside," the woman told her sternly, frowning. "Do you think it's going to get better? That you can just go back to the way things were before you loved him?"

Eevee was silent, and her mind wrestled with that thought. She'd never been in love before, and while it was true she figured time would fix things, she didn't really know how long that was going to take. How long did it take for someone to fall out of love? Even more nerve-wracking, Eevee had begun to wonder if a part of her hadn't been in love with him since they had met as little kids. Back then, it had felt more like hero-worshipping, admiration for a boy who lived the freedom she craved for…but she had definitely come to love him, in the way children loved.

At her silence, Anna Maria pushed on, saying, in a gentle voice, "Do you want to be miserable on your ship, where there is no way to avoid him? Because…honestly, I have to wonder if you shouldn't just quit his crew now that things have gone south with the two of you. And I'm sure that sounds really shitty; have a fling with your captain and suddenly you have to leave the crew/ But it wasn't a fling for you…and that's the problem. I'm not saying you _have_ to leave the crew because of what happened…I just want to know if you think you can be _happy_ on that crew with how you feel for the captain. Especially if the Dark Prince goes back to his normal…" Anna Maria hesitated, rethinking her choice of words, and finally muttered, "dating routine." It was a far gentler wording than 'whoring,' at least.

Eevee tensed, and though her words made more sense than Eevee was prepared to admit, her mind dismissed them in panic. Her eyes flashed up at Anna Maria's, "No, I don't want to quit. I've wanted to be a pirate all my life…I can't go back now. This is my dream…" Her voice was tight, somber.

Anna Maria shook her head, "I didn't say you had to quit being a pirate. But do you think you'll be happy on _his_ crew? Constantly hurting every time you see his face? I've been there, chica…it's no fun, and it definitely gets harder before it gets better. Not getting any air from your pain…it can really mess with you. Won't that ruin that dream of yours? Will you enjoy being a pirate when you can't even look at your own captain without hurting?"

Eevee was silent, but inside she was crying. Anna Maria's words…as much as Eevee wanted to deny them, she feared they were true. She wasn't happy waking up each morning and knowing that things had irrevocably changed for her. She didn't look forward to each day like she had before. What was the point of being a pirate if she wasn't happy anymore?

"I…" Eevee said slowly, reluctant to say out loud that the woman might be right. She glanced over at Raion, saw the blond running her fingers through his hair with a wicked gleam in her eye, and hurriedly looked away as her stomach clenched painfully. "But his crew is the only one I've known…I don't know where I could go. And everyone else…What about the rest of my crew? I have come to love them, respect them, as well…Leave them?"

Anna Maria smiled a little, and glanced over to her own captain, who was watching them now, her sharp eyes flickering between the auburn-haired girl and Anna Maria. Anna Maria tilted her head to the side, just slightly, and the short-haired blond woman gave a little nod before she lifted her mug to her mouth and took a sip. Anna Maria smiled and looked back at Eevee, who was once more staring down at her mug of alcohol.

"Well…Think about it this way. I'm sure that they feel the same way about you. And do you think that you would want one of them, heartbroken and hurting every day? Wouldn't you think they'd want you to be somewhere where you can truly follow your dream and be happy?" Her words gave Eevee pause, and her fingers tightened around her mug as the truth of it made her heart feel even more heavy. "And…you do have somewhere to go. You can join our crew. I like you, and so does my crew. We're not complete strangers, since Margherita and I grew up together. You could be happier with us, without the constant reminder of _him_ ," Anna Maria nodded her head towards Raion's table again, though Eevee didn't follow her gaze. "I know it would suck to leave the rest of your crew, but I'm sure they'd understand. Doesn't mean you wouldn't ever see them again anyways. Now that I've reconnected with Margherita, I'm sure we will be seeing a lot more of each other."

Eevee stared at her, and her instinctual answer was _no_. How could she leave her crew? It just…seemed wrong. Her eyes flickered over to Margherita, and she wondered how she could be on a crew without the short-haired sassy girl to tease her all the time. And yet…The thought of waking up every morning, dreading breakfast with her whole crew because she wanted to avoid one man…It wasn't a comfortable thought.

"I don't know…That's a pretty big decision…" Eevee hedged, glancing back at Anna Maria before dropping her gaze back down to her mug.

"Hell yeah it is…And you don't have to say yes. I just figured I'd let you know that there are options out there. You're a pirate now; you can do whatever you want," Anna Maria shrugged, and downed the rest of her alcohol. "And you don't have to answer now. My crew is leaving tomorrow morning, so that's your time limit, but take your time."

Eevee nodded slowly, feeling torn inside. Just then, Margherita returned to them, and plopped herself down on Anna Maria's lap with a laugh. "Hey! Whatchya talking about, ladies? You look far too serious. Drink some more!" she said with a laugh, holding up a newly filled mug.

Eevee's thoughts were so heavy that she couldn't manage even a fake smile. Margherita grew instantly more serious, and she glanced over at Raion with a scowl. It was that, Eevee realized, that made her actually consider Anna Maria's offer. This thing…between her and Raion. It wasn't only going to effect her. It was going to cause a rift on the crew, already had in fact, and could she really stand for that to happen to the crew she'd come to love? Wouldn't her being there only make things more difficult for everyone, not just for her?

Just then, loud wolf whistles erupted throughout the room, and Eevee glanced towards the source of the sound on instinct. What she saw made her skin turn to ice. Raion had the blond by the hair and was kissing her passionately as everyone cheered him on. Eevee's mouth popped open in shock, and then closed slowly as he drew the blond up to her feet, and started to drag her out of the tavern.

She may not be well versed with men, but she wasn't an idiot. She knew exactly what that meant, knew what they were going to do.

As the door closed behind them, Eevee shot to her feet, spilling a little of the beer in her mug. When she put the mug down, her fingers were shaking a little. She wasn't aware that her color had completely left her face, but she felt light-headed and a little dizzy. She wasn't going to be able to keep her composure, and she didn't want anyone to witness her breakdown.

"I need to go," Eevee said in a small, tight voice. "Excuse me." As if her pirating self had abandoned her and left her only with the noble lady she'd grown up as, she dropped into a wobbling curtsy and turned on her heel, desperate to be alone, desperate to get away from the tavern. She heard people calling out to her behind her, but she didn't stop, weaving her way through the tables, chairs, and people. Luckily, Raion and his woman were no longer in sight by the time she exited the tavern. The cooler air outside felt good on her face, and she took a moment to just lean against the wall next to the tavern door, sucking in breaths and letting them out slowly. A few people passing in the street cast her curious glances, and Eevee tensed a little, reminded of her last time in a tavern and the brutality she'd suffered. She should go back to the ship before some criminal decided it was a good idea to have some fun with her.

Eevee sucked in a breath and pushed off from the wall, turning in the direction of the docks. Behind her, the door opened, but Eevee didn't look back. Half a minute later, a hand closed around her wrist and tugged, and Eevee whirled around, her hands going up on reflex, prepared to defend herself.

Sabo released her wrist and put both of his hands up, a wry smile on his lips, "Woah, relax…just me, Eevee," he told her in a calm voice, and Eevee's hands dropped and she relaxed some. For a minute they just stared at each other, Sabo's expression kind, gentle, a small frown between his brows bellying his worry. "Hey…you—"

He never got to finish; unable to keep it in any longer, tears started tracking down her face and a great sob welled up in her throat. She choked on it, appalled at herself, but Sabo just stepped forward, and pulled her into the circle of his arms, one of his hands going up and pressing her face into his shirt. "Shhh…it's okay, let it out," he murmured gently.

Of everyone, she might have held her composure, might have tried to put on a brave face…but it was impossible with Sabo. He'd become like a brother to her, the hours upon hours of their training time together forging a bond between them. More than that, Eevee knew he was likely the most intelligent person on their crew, knew that it was impossible to deceive him about her feelings. Perhaps that was why she broke down in front of him; she knew it was useless to try otherwise.

When her crying started to subside, Sabo ushered her towards the side of the road, and into the narrow alley next to the tavern. Out of sight of prying eyes, he tipped her chin up and wiped the tears from her cheeks, waiting for Eevee to catch her breath. "That must have been very difficult to see," he finally said, gazing down at her gently.

Eevee's breath stuttered in her lungs as she pulled herself together. Then she nodded her head, glancing up at Sabo. Meeting his eyes made tears spring to hers once more, so she looked down at the ground as she battled tears once more.

Sabo let out a sigh, then reached out and ruffled her hair. He was silent as he watched her, words bouncing around in his head as he struggled with what to say. He'd just opened his mouth when Eevee's voice cut him off.

"I don't know…if I can stay as his nakama," she whispered, and Sabo had to bend in to hear what she said. His brows shot up high and his chest tightened.

"Eevee, what—"

"I love him." Eevee said, lifting her head to meet his eyes. "I love him, and it's my own fault…but I'm not strong enough to watch this. I know his reputation…I know that this is only the first of many times I will have to watch him walk out the door with a woman on his arm."

Sabo shifted uncomfortably, a sadness filtering into his bright blue eyes.

"I don't want to stop being a pirate…but I don't want to be sad all the time…I don't want my feelings to create problems in the crew. What if I grow to hate him…? I wouldn't want to be on a crew where I hate my captain," Eevee told him, her shoulders trembling as she fought her tears down once more. Sabo's eyes searched her face as he reached out and placed both of his hands on her shoulder.

"Where would you go, Eevee?" he asked quietly, reluctantly.

"The Golden Hawk Pirates…Margherita's friend is one of their nakama. She offered me a place on their crew," Eevee said quietly, her head bent so she missed the look of surprise and sadness that flashed across Sabo's face.

Silence reigned, and Eevee dared to look up at Sabo. He was staring at her intently, and Eevee could see the wheels turning in his head as he wrestled with what she'd said. Finally, he closed his eyes and let out a sigh.

"If you really love him…and I think you do…then I can understand how difficult it will be for you, having him as your captain. If I were in your shoes…I wouldn't want to stick around either. But…are you sure? Really sure…? This is a big decision, to leave a crew." He looked at her seriously, his hands tightening on her shoulders. Eevee stared up at him, silently shaking her head as more tears leaked from her eyes and tracked down her face.

"Sabo…it hurts. I overheard you and him discussing me, back on the island…I've known ever since then that he doesn't feel the same way for me. That's fine…but every time I see him…my chest…" she reached up, her fingers gripping the material of her shirt right over where her heart was.

Sabo let out a small curse and nodded, withdrawing his hands from her shoulders. He regarded her with an expression she couldn't decipher, and Eevee just stared helplessly back at him. Finally, he bowed his head and said in a quiet voice, "If this is what you want…if being with us is only going to hurt you…then you should do it. I've heard good things about the Golden Hawk Pirates. They're young, new at pirating…but their captain is strong, so is her first mate, her brother. If you want to join them… then I won't stop you."

Eevee wished she felt relief or happiness or anything positive by his words, but all she felt was a heavier sadness. Like his words were a confirmation of an undeniable truth; she was going to leave the Black Mamba pirates.

Part of her wished she'd never started anything with Raion. Wished she could take back the kisses, everything…go back to the way things were before things had gotten complicated with Raion.

"Normally the captain has to approve of nakama leaving the crew…but as his first mate, I have authority in his absence. If this is what you think you need to do to be happy…then I wish you the best of luck," Sabo told her grimly, and pulled her back into a strong hug.

—

It was early when the Golden Hawk Pirates pushed off from the docks. Eevee had spent all night moving her things over to their ship and saying her goodbyes to Titus, Zeke, Sabo, and Margherita. Margherita took the most convincing, and only after Sabo had pulled her aside and spoken to her did she finally calm down enough and help Eevee with her move.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" Margherita asked as they hugged for the last time in front of Anna Maria's ship.

"No…but I know I can't be around Raion anymore. I'm sorry that I'm weak…but I just…can't do it," Eevee said helplessly, and the snake-girl nodded with a scowl. "Please don't be upset with him…I don't want this to cause problems with you guys." In fact, it was one of the main reasons she'd decided to leave the crew, because she could never live with herself if she caused internal discord among them.

"Anna Maria, take care of her, okay?" Margherita finally said, her voice gruff as she stepped away from Eevee. "And don't lose the Den Den mushi I gave you. I want to see both of you soon."

Anna Maria closed the distance between them and slung an arm over Eevee's shoulders. She smiled down at the auburn-haired women and nodded, "We will. She's in good hands, chica," she reassured Margherita.

Margherita nodded back, then embraced her childhood friend as well.

Not long after that, the Golden Hawk Pirates pushed off, and Eevee stood on deck for a long time as she watched the island grow smaller and smaller. Her heart shrank just like the island, and when she finally turned away, she felt cold inside.

—

Back on the island, on the Hebi-go, Sabo sat on a barrel in the center of the ship, facing the docks. His arms were crossed, and his expression was grim as he waited for his captain to return. Anger shimmered in the air around him, almost palpable. He just knew he was going to be the one to clean up Raion's mess…but he hadn't imagined it would have turned out like this. When his captain finally returned—and it had better be soon, for crissake, it was past noon at this point—he had every intention on instructing his best friend as to who was to blame in this situation. Feelings couldn't be controlled, but his captain was well versed with romancing women, and Eevee was a total innocent. How could he have expected this to turn out any other way? Dammit, they'd never lost a cremate before…And he didn't think it would be over something like this.

Raion's mind was blank. As if all his feelings and thoughts had been left behind at that tavern, sitting at the table with a beautiful redhead with violet eyes.

He was barely listening as this Sammy chit chattered at him, leading him through the streets towards -he assumed - where she was staying. This was wrong. This whole thing was terribly wrong. This wasn't how he did his thing. He was usually so engaged, so into it because it wasn't necessarily the sex that he liked as much as he liked the conquest. There was something satisfying about manipulating perfect strangers into giving him exactly what he wanted.

It was too easy. It was too easy and it was to prove a point. He didn't know which point, exactly.

But he was here already and he'd see this through because he had to. He was convinced that getting some strange would push Eevee out of his head.

"Here we are!" Sammy stopped in front of the door of some inn and Raion checked in for a minute as she came into his space and walked her fingertips up his chest. She grabbed his face and kissed him and she tasted like sake and smelled like the ocean. He didn't have enough imagination to delude himself into thinking she smelled like herbs and fancy shampoo.

She was a bossy little thing, yanking open the door and dragging him by his hand into the darkness of the front lobby of the inn, then up the stairs and down the hall. He should have found that hot, but he didn't. He didn't feel anything, actually. His body was moving on muscle memory.

Inside the room, she shut the door, locked it and then she was on him like a cheap suit. Her arms around his shoulders, her hands in his hair, she jumped into his arms and wrapped her legs around his hips. Automatically, his hands went to her ass to keep her up as they made out.

It didn't fit right. Don't get him wrong, this woman was beautiful, but she didn't mold to him the right way. Her breasts were too large, her hair not nearly long enough and her body almost had too much curve.

The bottom line; she wasn't Eevee.

Feeling started to surface, the first one was nausea. Not like he was going to throw up or anything, but sorta that residual feeling. His skin was too tight and there was ice in his lungs. He dropped the blonde on the bed and she laughed and the sound didn't tickle through him as he peeled off his shirt and crawled over her. Her hands were everywhere, calloused from years of living on the ocean rather than soft and manicured from years of pampered living. Even the sounds she made contrasted against him like sand paper as he dragged his mouth down her neck and his hands brutally yanked her shorts off.

"Oh, Raion-oji…" she moaned.

That gave him pause. No. No, that was so wrong. That's not what he was called in the sack. He wasn't the _prince._ Eevee's voice pinged around his head from a few days ago:

" _Beg me to fuck you, Eevee._ _"_

" _I…"_

" _Do it._ _"_

 _Incoherent entreaties as he did something to her to wring those sounds out of her,_ _"_ _Say it, please._ _"_

" _Please, senchou_ _…"_

He pushed off the blonde like she was on fire. She gasped and sat up, looking flushed and annoyed as he grabbed his shirt, "What are you doing?" she demanded.

"I'm leaving," his voice was sharp and snapping.

"But…" she shifted to her hands and knees, "I thought…"

"Sorry," he offered, sounding anything but apologetic. He ripped the door open and slammed it shut behind him, his thoughts turbulent. Somehow, he managed to get his tee shirt back on the right way and fixed his hair a little before he hit the street. The cool air was thankless and did nothing to quell the burning in his organs.

And he started walking. He walked for a long time. People who lingered in the street gave him a wide berth. He walked until he hit the rocky coast on the opposite side of the island, the town a glittering of stars behind him.

Eventually, he parked it on a rock. He took off his boots and let his feet dangle in the calm ocean, gently lapping at his ankles. The rhythm of the ocean was more calming the longer he sat there, trying to sort through his feelings. There was nothing definite to be had. For the first time in his life, he was sailing blind. There wasn't a map that would lead him exactly where he wanted to go; for that matter, he didn't even know where it was he wanted to be. All that he knew for certain was that he burned on the inside because he wished that blonde had been Eevee.

What was that supposed to mean? Did he… did he _love_ Eevee? No. That was preposterous. He didn't know much about love, at least, not the romantic kind. He knew what it was like to love someone, for sure. He knew that there had to be something wholly different in the way he loved Sabo than compared to loving a woman. After all, he didn't want to fuck Sabo.

He didn't know. He didn't know and he wished that there was someone who could just tell him what he was feeling.

He sat on the coast for a long time. The sun came up, streaking the dark sky with gray and then burning a bright pink before bleeding into red. A red sunrise.

 _Red in the morning, sailors take warning_ _…_ his mother's voice echoed in his head, a random memory. He felt like a bad omen was waiting for him. It settled like a hunk of cool steel in his stomach. Something terrible was going to happen this morning and it had little to do with the weather.

Finally, with it nearly noon, he made his way back to the town. It was bustling with people this morning, traders, merchants, mostly pirates and smugglers. Several people called out to him, wishing him a good morning and he made a valiant attempt at being social. He didn't feel it though. He felt so much that he felt nothing.

The docks around the Hebi were eerily quiet and it only added to the sense of foreboding as he climbed the wooden rungs and swung back on board. He froze immediately.

Sabo was perched on a large barrel, sitting near the mast in the middle of the deck. His elbows were propped on his knees and his chin rested on his fingers. He looked… less than pleased. Sabo was rarely 'less than pleased'. Typically, he was very calm and cheerful and let a lot roll over him, hence why he and Raion worked so well together.

"Morning…" Raion greeted in a hedging voice.

Sabo raised his blonde brows, "Morning."

Damn. There was so much anger in that one word. Raion could taste in like poison in the back of his throat. He swallowed hard, "What's wrong?"

"Oh, where do I even start?" Sabo smirked without humor. He reached behind him and grabbed a thick book and flipped it open, "Well, I guess I'll start with you aren't the captain anymore."

Silence. Raion stared at him, "Whaa…?" he couldn't even form a coherent thought.

"Yes, sir. See, here, in this book," he held it up so Raion could see the cover, "You've read it before. Social Hierarchy and Etiquette On Board a Ship. It's the bible among merchants, pirates or marines alike. And according to page 267…"

He licked his thumb and turned a few pages, "… the definition of the First Mate is ' _someone who is responsible to the captain for the safety and security of the crew. Major responsibilities include safety and security, training, punishment and discipline._ ' And there's this really neat part here that you'll get a kick out of, ready? It says, ' _The chief mate can also veto a captain_ _'_ _s decision when the ship is not chasing a prize or engaged in battle. Should the captain become killed in action, absent or found to be unfit for duty, the chief mate can take up responsibility of captain until a new captain is elected._ _'_ " Sabo slammed the book shut and placed it back behind him on the barrel, "You were absent and the crew mutually decided that you were not fit for duty at this time, so I've taken on responsibilities of captain."

Raion stared at Sabo, trying to determine if his best friend was joking or not. Or even come up with something other than befuddlement, "I don't understand…" he said, feeling like he wasn't computing right.

"So, now that I've taken up slot as captain, I get to make all sorts of cool decisions like where we go, what we do and oh! I get to dismiss crew members at my leisure." he spoke sarcasm fluently.

It was starting to sink in little by little here and Raion's breath ceased for several moments, "You kicked someone off the crew…" he whispered as a sinking feeling came over him, "Eevee…"

"Oh, don't be mistaken, Raion. I didn't kick her off the crew," Sabo waved a hand, "I gave her permission to leave. _You_ kicked her off."

"She left…?" Eevee was gone? What? Why? When? "You can't do that!" he started to gather back some of his emotions and anger was rapidly increasing, "You can't dismiss her without the captain's approval. Nakama is a life-long contract."

"That's the beauty of it. I'm the captain now. So yes, I _can_ give her permission to leave and I did. Because you're an asshole."

"I still don't understand…" Raion continued, taking a few steps forward.

"Then let me spell it out for you plainly, _ex-senchou_ ," Sabo jumped off the barrel and got right in his space, "Eevee fell in love with you. And you chose to take that for granted and so, while you were out fucking women, she got a better offer and left."

"I didn't fuck anyone…" he had no other defense and he regretted his word choice the minute it came out of his mouth.

Sabo shoved him. Hard, "You're missing the point! You have fucked this up. Bad. Beyond my imagination bad."

Raion's reaction was to shove Sabo back, sending him into the barrel where he caught himself, "What point am I missing, then, _senchou_?" he hissed the word out, "I can't help how she feels. She knew what she was getting into."

"She didn't! She didn't because you didn't tell her!" Sabo came right back at him, his voice rising to match Raion's, "And you're a fool for letting someone like her go! I see how you look at her, we all saw how you acted around her. And you just brushed that aside because you have some skewed image of what 'love' is supposed to look like! There is no such thing as 'love at first sight'. Love is _hard_! Love is hard ass work that's worth it at the end."

"I never said I loved her," Raion retorted.

"Because you won't try! You don't wanna work for it." Sabo shoved him again, "Everything's been handed to you on a silver platter because you are the son of the Pirate King. You've never had to work at anything in your whole life."

Raion shoved him back, "That's not true! I've worked so hard to get where I am, out of Luffy's smothering shadow."

"How fucking nice for you, to have a dad that everyone knows about, to have been born with power and privilege. The easy life."

"Don't turn this around on you and you're misguided need for acceptance."

"That's what it's all about though!" Sabo grabbed his tee shirt, the two of them eye to eye, dark thunderclouds to cloudless sky, "Everything's come easy to you. You don't know what it's like to work for anything, ever. And you don't wanna work for love. Why would you when you can just fuck whoever grabs your arm first?"

"What? Like your love life is so hard?" Raion pushed him off, "Like Luffy and Nami's life is so hard?"

"Because we've had to work for it!" Sabo exclaimed. "My parents, your parents, Rouge and Lukas, me and Dahlia, we make hard work look easy because we've worked for it! We've worked through the craziness, the heartbreak, the tears and the crying and the loneliness and when everything settled the hell down, that's where the love lies. You think it was easy for Mara to give birth to Rouge after her husband died? You think it was easy for Lukas to go to prison for Rouge? You think it's easy for me to leave Dahlia for months at a time? You think it was easy for Nami to watch Luffy nearly kill himself to become the Pirate King? No. It's not easy! But I tell you this, it's fucking worth it. It's worth it when I can wrap her in my arms after spending countless nights alone. It's worth it when you can hold your baby for the first time. It's worth it when you can look at her and know that when everything has gone to hell, she's still there."

Sabo let him go and stalked back to the barrel and scooped up his book, "And you let that slip through your fingers because you want everything to be easy. Because love needs to come easy. Wake up, Raion. It doesn't. Falling in love, sure, that's not terribly hard. Staying in love, getting that fairy tail ending you see in everyone else, that's hard work."

He turned and walked away, then paused and turned back around, "And just to let you know, I hate being the captain. I hate the responsibility. I'd prefer to follow you to the brink of death. But not when you can't take care of your nakama."

Sabo left Raion standing there in the middle of the deck, seething. He was gone less than 12 hours and it felt like his whole life was falling apart faster than he could pick up the pieces. He'd been stripped of his captain position, his crew hated him, his best friend was pissed at him and Eevee was gone. She was gone, left him, deserted the crew. Where was she? Would she go home? Did she join another crew? He assumed she must've joined up with another crew. He balled his hands at his sides, feeling his nails dig hard into his flesh.

He'd never lost a crew member before. His father had once told him it was the worst feeling in the world and he could believe it. Guilt ate through his insides. He flinched when he heard the trap door to the library slam shut somewhere above him.

He couldn't process. Eevee was gone. She was _gone_. He almost didn't believe it, even as his Haki told him that there was one person in the library and only three people in the galley. He marched across the deck and slammed open the door to the girl's dorm. And felt some strange giddy up in his chest like he suddenly was sucking air through a straw.

Her things were gone. The bed was perfectly made and all the little knick knacks things she had on the dresser and table were gone. He ripped open the drawers. Empty. Gone. No shorts, no fancy dresses, no corsets or hose or kohl or face powder or lip color. Nothing.

Raion sat down hard on the edge of the bed and rubbed his face. He hadn't realized he'd rearranged his head so that there would be room for her to stay until he was looking at the empty space she was supposed to fill. This chit bothered him hardcore. She'd ruined him. Little by little, with each wide-eyed look and each delicate step, she'd torn him apart. And when he'd realized how many pieces of him she had, he yanked them back, ripping her apart at the same time. What was he supposed to do now? Hunt her down and beg her to come back on the crew? Then what? Then what was supposed to happen? Did he really expect things would go back to how they were? What were they, even, before?

He was rapidly coming to the conclusion that he and Eevee were never _just_ nakama. That they'd never be _just_ nakama.

He couldn't deal right now. He couldn't sit in this half-empty room, sleep-deprived and crazy and deal with this. He stormed out of the room and up the stairs to his room, where he slammed the door. He felt lost in his own space, like nothing around him made sense. The piano, the table, the bed… there was no peace to be had here.

There was no peace on this god forsaken ship because she'd left.


	13. Chapter 13

***** DISCLAIMER, PLEASE READ- A Pirate's Life for Me is the third (kinda fourth) published story in this One Piece Universe that I and Jesachi, u/711995/Jesachi, have written together. Many people really enjoyed the first one, The Way of the Sword and Rose, but Jesachi and I have moved on to other writing in our lives, and we don't think we're ever going to go back and edit these. Therefore, this is a WARNING that this story is completely UN-EDITED and also written as a roleplay between myself and Jesachi, so the point of view switches between the two main characters every now and then. If this bothers you, don't read it :) We are only publishing these because we thought our fans might want to see the direction we took with our One Piece Universe. I hope you enjoy! Raion and Eevee are an amazing couple, and Luffy's entire crew makes an appearance eventually :)**********

"Are you sure she left on a different ship?" a tall, black haired man asked the rotund pirate standing in the shadows of a building off the docks.

"Yes, I watched her leave myself. She's hard to miss, with those purple peepers of hers. It was damned early, too. I almost missed it, but I was up to take a piss, ye see, and—"

"Fine. The Golden Hawk Pirates' ship?"

"Yes," a second man pipped in. He was slender and bald, with a scar over his right eye. He spoke more assuredly, staring up at the black-haired man with a calmness that was a sharp contrast to the rotund man's nervous jitter. "I overheard the conversation in the tavern the night before. Apparently the chit is 'in love' with the Dark Prince, and when he began whoring, the girl was upset. She got an offer by the Golden Hawk Pirates…She didn't accept it right away, and left the tavern not long after. But she came back about an hour later, and told the captain, the Pirate known as the Golden Hawk Mercedes, that she wanted to join her crew. I kept my eye on her after that. It was definitely their ship she left on too. About four, maybe five hours ago. The Black Mamba's are still in port."

The black haired man, known simply as Hunter, nodded his head with a small smirk on his lips. He trusted the bald man, an informant named Jerry who'd been the one to contact him the moment the Black Mamba Pirate's had pulled into the docks the day before. Hunter, and his associate, the fish man Istio, were renown bounty hunters who scoured the seas for wanted individuals. When they'd stumbled on the notice for the young noble girl deemed 'missing,' they thought they'd found an easy catch. Then it had become known that she was with the Black Mamba pirates. That made it a tad more difficult, but had raised the price of the bounty significantly. Enough to make the risk worth it.

They'd located and closed in on the Black Mamba's, waiting for the right opportunity to grab the girl without the whole crew protecting her, when the Dragon Smuggler and her ex-marine husband had shown up. That had significantly raised the danger, so they'd bided their time. However, they soon lost them when the Hebi-go entered the Calm Belt, a place that not even Hunter and Istio could follow.

Luckily, his informant Jerry had spotted the Hebi-go as it pulled into the docks of Rum Reef, and notified Hunter via Den Den Mushi. Though they'd been a fair distance away, they'd departed immediately for the island.

There were two reasons Hunter and Istio were so good at what they did: one, they were both very powerful fighters with plenty of experience in the bounty hunting carrer, and two…they were fast. In fact, their ship was small and they were the only two who manned it. However, Istio was a Sailfish fishman, the fastest of the fish men swimmers, and he was capable of pulling their smaller vessel at great speeds. In fact, often he did it simply for training.

Therefore, a trip that might have taken a normal ship three or four days had only taken Hunter and Istio half a day.

"You have been most helpful, gentlemen," Hunter said with a smile, and he tossed a small bag of coins into Jerry's waiting hands. Without another word, Hunter turned away, and strode towards the docks. A grin slowly spread over his face as he walked. The Golden Hawk Pirates? This would be like stealing candy from a baby, he thought as a dark chuckle escaped his lips.

—

The morning after she'd joined the Golden Hawk Pirates was the most difficult, because Eevee didn't feel like she _belonged_. She felt like she was visiting another ship, except she knew she wasn't going to be leaving it. As the dust had settled, so to speak, she felt a spark of panic in her chest. Now that she'd gone and done the deed, she wondered if she hadn't made a terrible mistake. When she'd decided to leave Raion's crew, her hurt had been fresh and her mind and emotions had been overwhelmed with the pain his actions had caused. Now that she was away from her crew…her _old_ crew…she was already missing them greatly. She missed Zeke's breakfast. She wanted to see Margherita tinkering with weapons and gadgets on the deck. She was waiting for Sabo's voice to announce their training. Most of all, and perhaps because she'd been missing him for longer than just this morning…She missed Raion, and the way his eyes danced wickedly when he looked at her. The sound of his laughter. His teasing…

But then, she reminded herself, he wouldn't be looking at her like that again anyways. The painful reminder of why she left only made her more miserable.

Her stuff was already in the woman's dorm, but she lingered on the deck, reluctant to enter a more confined space that also didn't feel like _her_ ship. At least the sky and the ocean were familiar, and she took comfort in their blueness.

It got easier though. Anna Maria, bless her, must have smelled Eevee's discomfort, and joined her on deck, bringing up a box with her that contained the crew's medical supplies. She plopped them down in front of Eevee and sat down next to her. Eevee was leaning back against the mast, and started out of her thoughts at Anna Maria's sudden appearance. She turned her head and offered a somewhat timid smile to the woman.

"Now, you must obviously be feeling pretty uncomfortable right now…I know I would, on a new ship. But I think that's normal, and I don't think you should overthink it. You'll get used to our ship and our ways and you'll come to learn we're a pretty awesome crew," Anna Maria said brightly, nudging Eevee with her elbow and grinning at her. A thick black curl had fallen between her eyes, and she looked at it cross-eyed for a moment before blowing it out of her face. Eevee managed a giggle at that, and forced herself to take in a deep breath…and let it out.

"So, to get you started feeling more familiar with us, here is our first aid kit. I'm sure it's pretty pathetic compared to what your used to, but we don't have a doctor on our crew yet. It just worked out for the best that you would fall into our laps like this, right?" the golden-skinned woman smiled as she held up two glass bottles and squinted at them. "I was hoping you could help us organize it, and maybe make it a little better? We have a room you can set yourself up in, as the doctor, but it's still full of clutter and extra supplies right now, so we're just gonna wait for the boys to clear it out."

"This coming from the woman who'd kick you in the balls for implying a woman is the weaker sex," drawled Garreth with a smile as he walked by, a large box in his hands.

Anna Maria scowled up at him, "Oh shush it…I'm busy. Or else I'd be in there helping you out, obviously."

"Right. Obviously," Coal said with a cool smile as he came across the deck from behind them. His expression remained somewhat serious, but his eyes danced with amusement and his voice held a somewhat teasing edge to it. He glanced over at Garreth, who was muttering something as he climbed the steps to the upper deck, then returned his gaze to Eevee. His smile warmed a little, but remained rather polite. She wondered if he and his sister, the captain, had always been pirates; they gave off an air that almost made them seem like nobles, without the snobbery.

"How are you liking your new crew so far, Evelyn? Or would you rather I call you Eevee?" He asked, glancing down at the box sitting in front of her.

Eevee was startled by how much her full name seemed so wrong to hear. She'd been hearing it all her life…but for the past few weeks, almost no one called her that anymore, and she'd changed so much…it seemed odd to hear it now. It felt…backwards. "Um, Eevee, if you wouldn't mind. And you have a lovely crew. They're all very friendly," she told her new first mate, another timid smile coming to her lips. Even thought she'd changed so much, become so much bolder and courageous, she felt like she'd taken a step or two backwards with the Golden Hawk Pirates. She knew, logically, that it was because she was new to them and feeling shy, but given the situation…it was hard not to feel crestfallen, in a way.

"Eevee then…well, I'm glad to hear that. I don't mean to pry, but I understand the gist of why you joined us…I'm sure it must be very difficult. I just wanted to say that we're very happy to have you, and I look forward to the adventures we'll share," a bit of his coolness dissipated and his smile was warm as he tipped his chin to her.

Feeling bolstered by his warm greeting, Eevee returned a stronger smile than her previous one, and nodded her head. "Yes, I agree."

"Glad to hear it." Coal nodded to Anna Maria, who gave a small salute, a lopsided grin on her face, then walked off in the direction of the helm, where the captain, Mercedes, was holding the wheel.

Eevee was just getting some of her medical supplied set up in her new 'office' when a shout came from outside. Anna Maria frowned, glancing at the door, her whole body going still. "That's Tommy's warning shout. Come on," she said, putting down a small box she had in her hands and striding for the door. Eevee hurried after her.

On deck, the whole crew had emerged. Mercedes had a spyglass to her eye and was gazing off to the west. Eevee followed her gaze to see what could have caused such alarm in the whole crew, but all she saw was a small ship in the far distance.

She was just about to ask what was wrong when she noticed that the ship seemed to be moving…very quickly. Abnormally quickly. And it was heading right for them.

"Who is that…?" Eevee asked, and silence answered her. She glanced around, and there was a tension in the crew. "Is something wrong?" she asked, frowning.

"Bounty-hunters," Mercedes said in a sharp voice. "Just in case, prepare for battle." The blond woman turned on her heel, then lifted her arms up, feathers streaming out of her arms as she did so. Eevee's eyes went wide as she watched the woman become a woman-bird mix, and leap up into the sky. She reached the helm in record time, and turned the wheel so that the ship began to change course, heading away from the encroaching ship. "Tommy!" she shouted, "adjust the riggings to open the sails more. We need speed."

Eevee felt her chest tighten as she turned her eyes back to the small ship in the distance. Why where they so worried about such a small vessel? Surely it wouldn't stand a chance against them…? Right?

The night after Eevee had left had been awful. The morning after, just shy of 24 hours on the ship without her, was worse.

Raion had tried to go have dinner with his crew. The silence at the table had been painful. The hostility that rolled off Margherita in waves would have been bearable… if it had only been her. But no. His calm Fishmen twins were bitter towards him too. Sabo was still perturbed. Not a single word was spoken the entire meal.

The next morning, Raion made no plans to leave his room. In fact, he locked the door, which he never did. It had been satisfying, to lock the rest of the crew out and part of him wondered if Margherita wouldn't try to poison him in the middle of the night.

It was early morning when there was a knock on his door. He was sitting at his mapping table, staring at the partially finished piece in front of him, flicking his pen so it rolled up and down the slanted incline. He made no move to answer the door. Why the fuck would he want to? No one out there wanted anything to do with him.

He felt so lost. He didn't get lost; it was against the very grain of his fiber. But he had nothing else in his expansive vocabulary to describe the heavy weight in his stomach, the helplessness, the indecision. He was lost in his own territory.

The knock sounded again and the doorknob rattled. "Go away." he snapped.

The rattling stopped. Then the grind of a key and the door clicked open. Sabo entered and Raion didn't even watch him as he shut the door behind him.

"What do you want, _senchou_?" he growled.

Sabo rolled his eyes and plopped an apple on the cartography table, "You didn't come to breakfast," he replied.

"Gee. I wonder why," Raion's tone was mocking, "The fuck do you care anyway?"

"Oh, cut the shit, Raion. Just because I'm pissed at you doesn't mean I want you to starve to death, for crissake."

He sat up and leaned back in his chair, precariously balancing it on two legs, "To what do I own the pleasure of your company then, O Capitan?"

Sabo gave him a droll look and perched on the edge of the bed, "What do you wanna do?"

He leaned his head back, his pen twirling between his fingers rapidly, "Why are you asking me? I don't make the decisions around here anymore, remember?"

The blonde man didn't answer and Raion tipped his head up to look at him. His blue eyes were impossibly serious and he knew what the kid was thinking, "Eevee? She left, Sabo. What do you want from me?"

"How about some honesty?" he offered, "No, don't look at me like that. You're so full of shit. What's going through your head?"

"I don't know, okay? You wouldn't understand me even if I told you. It's too complicated."

"I'm a pretty smart guy, try me."

Raion dropped his chair back on four legs and rubbed his face. Some honesty, huh? He didn't even know where to begin sorting through the pasture of shit in his head. It circled and circled and circled and he felt like he was on a hamster wheel going nowhere fast, "I didn't fuck that chit the other night…" he muttered.

"For real?"

"For real…"

"Why not?"

Raion rubbed at his face again and leaned back in his chair, "I just couldn't. It wasn't right. She… she wasn't her."

The best thing about Sabo was that he was patient at the best of times. This was one of those times where he didn't push Raion to come to any conclusions and seemed content to just let the captain trudge through his thoughts, even if they didn't make any sense, "I'm obsessed with her. She literally occupies all my waking thoughts, all the time. I dream about her, for fuck's sake. I think even as kids I was obsessed with her. I pretty much told her she could part of my crew at 13 years old…" He remembered that day, vividly, actually. She mentioned it the very first night they'd reunited;

" _If you ever do become a pirate someday, look me up. I might be able to help you out or something._ _"_ He remembered his 13-year-old self calling down the street to her.

" _Really? Promise?_ _"_ her purple eyes so wide with thrill and unabridged hope.

" _Promise."_

Had that not been an invitation to join his crew? It sure as hell sounded like one. Aside from Sabo, she was the first one he'd asked, or rather, promised a spot on his ship. There had always been a spot here for her. Perhaps that was why he didn't settle on a doctor for his nakama, because that position had been reserved for her.

"Do you want her back?" Sabo asked quietly, shaking Raion from his reverie.

"And what would I say to her, seriously?" he replied, exasperated, "Beg her to come back and have things go back to normal again? What was normal? What were we before? Just nakama? Are you fucking kidding me? I wanted up her dress the moment I laid eyes on her. I kissed her when we were teenagers. We were never just nakama. Her and I will never be just nakama."

"So… what do you wanna do then?" Sabo's eyes glittered with knowing and Raion disliked that patronizing expression.

He was silent, trying to think rapidly, "Nothing…" he muttered, dropping his chin on his arms folded on the table, "It's better that's she's gone," even his voice betrayed the fact that he couldn't quite convince himself that that was true. He missed her hard. He missed her and it hurt inside, like something was squeezing his lungs and he was slowly suffocating. God fucking damn it, he was in love with her, wasn't he? No. No, that couldn't be it. He was just obsessed with her and mad that he lost nakama because of his own fucked up choices, "That way she doesn't have to hurt too."

He heard Sabo sigh and stand, "Well, we need to do something soon. We can't stay at port forever and you can't stay in here forever."

"Just whatever…" Raion muttered, "I don't care where we go. You make the decisions…"

He didn't look up as Sabo opened the door and just before he closed it, he said, "Eat your apple, captain's orders."

Raion flipped him off half-heartedly and Sabo chuckled as the door closed.

It was just after noon when he couldn't take it anymore. He could taste the resentment on his ship. He couldn't handle the fact that she wasn't here anymore for the simple reason that she wasn't here. She belonged to him. She belonged on his fucking crew and how dare she leave him.

He couldn't just sit here and hope that things would settle out. Sit here and hope that he'd stop feeling like shit, that the guilt would ebb and that he'd move on in his career without her. Or that he'd find another doctor. There was never gonna be another doctor for this crew. And first and foremost, he was the captain - despite what Sabo said - and Sabo was right. A good captain took care of his nakama and that's just what he had to do. He had to get her back and take care of her.

If his father taught him anything, it was to take action. And fuck the consequences.

Raion burst into the library, upsetting the books that were piled up near the trapdoor.

"Sabo!" He exclaimed, breathless, "What's the name of that pirate crew?"

His best friend blinked at him, coming out of his post-novel glaze, "What?"

"The crew! The one Eevee joined yesterday!"

Sabo frowned, his light eyebrows scrunching, "Why do you wanna know?"

"I just do! Tell me damn it!"

"What are you gonna do with the information if I give it to you?" Sabo smirked a ghost of a smirk, almost a wicked tease and Raion growled.

"I'm gonna go get her, that's what!" he'd have to be an idiot to not know what his best friend was doing, holding the information hostage. He was making Raion work for it.

"Why? She doesn't want to be here, or with you."

"Damn it, Sabo!" He pounded the wood under his fist, "Because she belongs here, on my crew. Because I have to take care of what's mine. I'm the fucking captain and I'm responsible."

"She's not gonna buy that crock of shit, Raion."

"Who the fuck cares? According to the papers, I've kidnapped her once. I'll kidnap her again."

"Aww. You're so sweet. Why women aren't lining up to marry you is beyond me."

"Tell me, damn it!"

Sabo turned back to his book, "No. She's better off without you."

"God fucking damn it, what do you want me to say? I'm sorry? That she's the one? She's always been the one? That I'll never find anyone like her again? I think I'm in love with her?" he paused, frowning as soon as the words came out of his mouth. Fuck. Did he just say that?

Shit, it felt right. It felt better than denying it, that was for damned for.

"Did I really just say that?" Raion asked.

Sabo burst out laughing, "Ya, you did, bro. That you did. Did you mean it?"

Raion made a face, "I think so…" he couldn't be certain of anything right now, except that he wanted her back on his ship and he'd do just about anything to get her. Was that love? This crazy feeling of impulsivity? The obsession?

 _"You meet and it_ _'_ _s all crazy and shit and it makes you insane. And then when all that craziness levels out and it_ _'_ _s just the two of you_ _…_ _you just know._ _"_

Holy shit. Was this what Lukas was talking about? He could totally get it now. He was off his rocker for her. He just… hadn't been able to see it when she was right in front of him. Damn it, if he had, they wouldn't be in this mess, would they? God fucking damn it.

Sabo chuckled some more, "That's what it's all about, bro. Let's go."

When they finally found the ship of the Golden Hawk Pirates, it was far too late.

The vessel's mast had been snapped about three-quarters of the way up, and other signs of damage were visible even before the Hebi-go had pulled up alongside it. The ship was reparable, but the crew was not in a capable state of doing so.

Everyone had suffered heavy damage, though somehow everyone was still alive. The captain and Anna Maria had suffered the most damage and were not on deck when the Black Mamba pirates arrived.

Perhaps the worst of it, though, was that Burbank Evelyn was gone, taken by the notorious bounty hunters Istio and Hunter, two days before Hebi-go had arrived on scene.

—

 _At Marine Headquarters._

"Miss Burbank, we require this information about your kidnappers in order to prevent a similar situation from happening again. Please cooperate with us," a female marine said in a stern voice, a hint of impatience carrying through the tone. The voice came through the speakers into a room adjoining the interrogation, where a one-way glass panel allowed the men in that room to see the lovely auburn-haired, violet eyed noble woman. Other than a split lip and a bruised temple, the woman seemed unharmed.

"Has she said anything yet?" Fleet Admiral Coby, crossing his arms over his chest and frowning at the glass. He studied the woman on the other side, his eyes roaming over her features and body language.

"No. We believe she may be suffering from some kidnapper's disorder. She doesn't believe she was kidnapped. She must have been brainwashed by the pirates. She won't submit to a medical examination either," answered one of the other marines in the room standing next to Coby.

Coby was silent at this, his keen eyes jumping back up to Burbank Evelyn's face as she sighed and leaned back in the chair, lifting one of her delicate hands to rub her temple.

"I told you, they did not kidnap me. And I'm not going to give information out about my cre—their crew," Miss Burbank said, her tone wavering and her shoulders dropping a little as she seemed to catch herself with her words. Coby's brows scrunched even closer together. Now what did that mean…?

"Miss, I know it must be very difficult. You have been through a very traumatic experience. We are only trying to help you right now. Your words could help protect other young women from suffering the same fate," the female marine officer who was conducting the interrogation told her.

"You're not listening to me, ma'am. I wasn't kidnapped. Other women are not in danger of being snatched up by the Black Mamba Pirates. Trust me, they are _all_ too willing with _him_." Her last words were muttered, and if Coby didn't have excellent hearing, he wouldn't have heard it. He would have missed the hurt and bitterness in them too.

"Are her parents on route to collect the young lady?" Coby asked quietly, not taking his eyes off the woman.

"Yes. They will be here in a matter of hours. Sir, we have not gleaned any helpful information from her. What should we do? Perhaps we can call her back in for questioning…?" the marine asked, frowning and looking concerned as he peered up at his commander.

Coby didn't answer right away, staring through the glass.

"Can you tell us where you think the Black Mamba Pirates might be now? Or perhaps any information about specific crew members and their potential fighting power?" The marine officer pushed, leaning forward in her chair. Her voice was tight, as if the only reason she hadn't snapped at the young woman was because she was a noble.

"No. and I will not," Burbank Evelyn answered tiredly and lifted both hands to rub her face. She winced when her fingers brushed over her bruised temple, but it was only the briefest of winces. Coby had seen noble ladies burst into tears from less.

He mused, studying her. His mind worked like the gears of a clock as he put the pieces together of what he knew about her, her family, and the Black Mamba Pirates. Monkey D. Raion, in particular, seemed to be a big piece to this puzzle. Finally, Coby shook his head and glanced at his subordinate. "No. She won't tell us anything. Let her go with her family."

"But, sir…this is a rare opportunity to learn about the—"

"I said no. She isn't going to reveal any information about that crew. Return her to her family." Coby turned away from the glass and started walking for the door. He stopped just before it, and said over his shoulder, "Send extra reinforcements to Saobody Island, and I was a squadron positioned outside of their estate, on high alert. I have a feeling that the Black Mamba's are not just going to let her go." Then he exited the room, and closed the door behind him.

The two days it took them to find the Golden Hawk Pirates filled him with anxiety. Not necessarily a bad anxiety, but he definitely had bouts of fret. The crew seemed to tread around him with equal trepidation, like they weren't convinced as to what was really happening.

Raion wasn't even convinced. What was he going to say to her? He didn't even know where to begin. That he was sorry? She wasn't going to buy that. His whole life had been defined by manipulating people and much of his pirating lifestyle tailored towards manipulating women through sex. How did he expect her to believe that he was sorry and he wouldn't do it again? Did he even believe that he wouldn't do it again?

The more time that passed since his outburst at Sabo, the more he thought that this was exactly what he wanted. He wanted her. He'd always wanted her but tried to delude himself into thinking that he didn't want to settle. Eevee had never been settling. Everyone else had been settling. She was top tier and he knew it even as children. At 13, she'd wormed her way into his soul with her bright eyes and graceful manner and since then, nothing compared. He knew that for certain.

Whatever it took to get her back on his ship, he'd do it. Even better, back into his arms. But he wasn't an idiot either and knew that that part might take some time. He'd shattered the trust they had not only between them as nakama, but as… something more. _More_ was left to be defined.

"I see them!" Sabo cried from the Crow's Nest and Raion glanced up at him before digging for his spyglass. He hadn't even gotten the tool up to his eyes before he heard his vice-captain curse, "Oh shit…"

The ship was destroyed. It was in the shallows of an island, partially sunken into the sand with the mast snapped in half. Panic leapt into his heart, making him feel like he'd swallowed a mouthful of that putrid liquor that Zoro gave him at the party.

The Hebi-Go pulled up beside the wrecked vessel and Raion knew immediately, that Eevee wasn't there. He barked some orders to drop anchor and secure their ship before he, Sabo and Margherita jumped over to the Golden Hawk ship first.

It was a mess. The place was in shambles, tilted in a bizarre way with the bow of the ship sinking forward and ocean water washing up. Several of the crew members lay unconscious, sprawled across the deck.

Margherita had her hands over her mouth, her yellow eyes flitting around the deck madly.

"Go get some medical supplies from the Hebi," Raion told her. She didn't hear him the first time and he had to repeat it, his tone clipped and urgent. She shook herself and scurried away, moving deftly around Titus and Zeke as they also came on deck.

"Can you fix this ship?" Raion asked the shipwright.

Titus glanced around, "Sure thing, senchou. Might take a day or two though."

He nodded, "Alright. Let's gather all the survivors. Find out what happened here…"

"Eevee?" Sabo asked quietly and Raion just shook his head.

Margherita came back with a satchel filled with medical supplies and while Titus scavenged for materials to begin repairs, the rest of the crew brought everyone out onto the deck. Margherita squealed, her hands over her mouth to muffle the sound as Zeke pulled two female bodies out from below in the cabins; a small light haired female and a more robust, dark haired woman.

"Anna Maria…" she whispered as the fish man laid the two women on the makeshift blanket they'd set up as a medical zone.

Everyone was alive, thank god, but it was hours before someone stirred awake. Twilight was kissing the horizon when the light haired woman moaned and stirred and Raion was at her side in an instant.

"What happened here?" he demanded as she woke up.

She blinked at him, then glanced around, seeing Margherita and Sabo hovering close by and all her nakama laid out, "Raion-sama…" she said, her voice a heavy whisper.

"Where's Eevee?" he asked. Sabo dropped a hand on his shoulder, a subtle reminder to keep his voice calm.

"There… bounty hunters came… we… tried to fight them off. Took her, Eevee… I couldn't…"

He suddenly couldn't hear the rest of her words as the world muted around him. Bounty hunters came, destroyed the ship, captured Eevee. His heart beat echoed in his ears as his mind jumped back weeks ago, when he, Sabo and Lukas found the newspaper clipping with her wanted bounty.

" _What would happen to her if she were returned?_ _"_ _Raion asked hypothetically._

" _Interrogated for days, probably, for information about your crew._ _"_ _Lukas shrugged,_ _"_ _Her family_ _'_ _s uber prestigious so she won_ _'_ _t be tortured._ _"_

She was taken by bounty hunters within days of leaving his crew. Was she being tailed this whole time? How had he not noticed this before? For that matter, why didn't they think about this before letting her leave? He turned his eyes to Sabo, who seemed to be drawing these rapid conclusions himself and his face was quickly losing color.

"I'm sorry…" he whispered, "I didn't realize… I forgot about…"

Of course he'd forgotten. Because bounty hunters didn't even try to come near his crew, ever. Even the marines left them alone. No one fucked with the Black Mambas. But a new crew like this one didn't stand a chance against powerful bounty hunters, people who made a living capturing criminals.

"When?" Raion turned back to the injured woman, "When did they come?"

She shook her head slowly, "I'm not sure… Two days ago? Three days…?"

"And where were they taking her?" he demanded.

The woman shook her head and Sabo spoke, "The nearest Marine base is Sabaody. That's where they'd have taken her to collect their bounty prize. Conveniently, she lives there too."

Raion's brain worked furiously. Bounty hunters manned small vessels that could out speed even ships like the Hebi. With perhaps three days head start, the hunters could have taken her into the marines already and have her under close surveillance before he realized she was gone.

"Don't make any rash decisions…" Sabo warned him, "I see your brain ticking. Let's think this through first."

Raion stood and began pacing swiftly around the deck, fury heating to a slow boil under his skin. Fucking A! Less than a week off his crew and she was taken! She was taken and now she was likely far enough out of reach to make it difficult to get her back. Once she hits Sabaody, the risk increases tenfold. She was the daughter of nobles, living close to Marine Headquarters and Mariejois. Security would surround her. The Marines weren't idiots, certainly, the Fleet Admiral was a highly intelligent man. He'd make sure that he had as many able-bodied soldiers stationed around her at all times because the likelihood of the Black Mambas coming for her was high. And while the marines might not actively seek to bother him and his crew, they also weren't going to pass up a golden opportunity to attempt to capture them if they could.

"How fast are those bounty hunter boats anyway?" Raion asked, "Is she at Sabaody already?"

Sabo shrugged, "Three times as fast as a ship? I'm not sure… Titus!"

The fish man glanced up from his task and shrugged, "Depends on the vessel and it depends on the hunters. There's a fish man hunter who can pull his boat faster than any engine could dream of, short of a Coup de Burst."

"It was!" came the woman's voice from where Margherita was crouched next to her, "It was a man named Hunter and a fishman."

Sabo paused, "Hunter? The Hunter?" he turned to Raion, "You've heard of him, right?"

"Vaguely. I don't like your expression…"

"He's one of the best bounty hunters in the world. Has captured some of the most notorious pirates in the world. And his associate is a Sailfin Fishman."

"Fastest fishman in the world," Titus said, "Nearly as fast as a mermaid."

"Was this the hunter who captured Sig Iron Fist and his nakama?" Raion asked, referring to an infamous pirate from about a year or two ago. He commanded something like a hundred pirates and was undyingly loyal to the Pirate King and his offspring. He and his crew had warded off marines and bounty hunters alike for years. They were rumored to be uncapturable.

Sabo nodded grimly, "It was Hunter who got them."

Raion suddenly felt like he was going to throw up, "So… how fast, Titus?"

"They could've had her there yesterday."

Yesterday. This was all his fault. He was the douchebag that had sent her off and without the reputation of the Black Mambas to keep them away, the Hunter had captured her. He tried to focus to crunch some numbers in his head. With a good tailwind, which they rarely had heading the archipelago from this direction, they'd get there in just over a week. But from this part of the ocean, a tailwind was asking for an awful lot.

"It'll take us two weeks…" he hedged, "If we left right now."

"I have to fix this ship or it'll sink," Titus shook his head.

"We can't leave these people!" Margherita insisted, tying a bandage around some man's temple.

God damn it! Raion glanced around at the ruin, his good sense at war with his priorities. Eevee was his priority. She was most likely at Sabaody already, being heavily interrogated for information from the marines and under house arrest to prevent her from leaving. How injured was she from the attack? He tried not to dwell on that part, because she was a doctor and she could take care of herself. The longer she stayed there though, the more security would file in until marine numbers on the island were overwhelming and rescue was more than simply 'risky'. By the time they got there, it could border on suicidal.

He had to have her back. Soon. But he couldn't just leave this crew here either.

"Three days," he declared, meeting the eyes of all his nakama, "Three days to get these people back on their feet, then we have to leave."

Everyone nodded and Raion stalked away. Three weeks. He was looking at three weeks before he saw her again. And he thought he was about to go mad after five days.

He past by the mast and slammed his fist into it, denting the wood and bruising his knuckles. He didn't deserve to have her back, in all honesty. He'd caused her nothing but harm. He corrupted her, taken her innocence and then tossed her out to get kidnapped by bounty hunters and turned into the marines for intense questioning. He was a disease to her.

Yet… he'd go after her. He'd go after her and take her back because he was selfish. And because he was a pirate. And pirates always got what they wanted.

"Miss Evelyn, we were so worried about you!" Eevee's maid, Jenny, said in a distressed voice as she fluttered around the room, busily preparing a tray of tea served in fine china while simultaneously laying out the different parts to Eevee's dress.

Eevee sat up in her large, four-poster canopy bed and blinked, a little blearily, through the gauze hangings at the woman. She'd arrived back to the manor late the night before, and hadn't even processed her presence before she'd passed out from sheer exhaustion.

"I was so delighted when I heard from the Master and Madame that you had been recovered!" Jenny continued as she finally came up to the bed and drew the gauze hangings aside, beaming happily at Eevee. She liked her maid, and so she offered a small smile back. Her smile did not reach her eyes, and it did not linger.

When her parents had seen her for the first time the day before at the Marine Headquarters, they'd both rushed to her, wrapping their arms around her. Her mother had been sobbing, and her father's voice had been gruff when he'd announced that he would never let anything happen to her again.

Eevee had embraced them as well, because though she did not want to be returning with them, they were still her parents, and she still loved them. But it had become apparent quickly that the daughter they had seen last was not the same woman as she was now. Eevee had wasted little time in interrupted their hysteria and firmly telling her parents that the letter she'd left them had not been a forgery, nor had it been forced.

" _I was not kidnapped, Mother, Father. I joined their crew of my own free will. I want to be a pirate. I've always wanted to be a pirate. And I have told you as much more than once."_ She'd told them, her voice firm, her violet eyes serious.

She had not seen the shock she'd been expecting though. They had both looked at each other in a moment of heavy silence, then her father had told her that she must be exhausted, traumatized, and that they were taking her home.

Eevee had begun to suspect then that the marines likely believe she'd been brainwashed by Raion and his crew. That her poor, feeble woman's mind had cracked under the pressure and that she must have convinced herself of this story in order to cope with her situation. They had likely warned her parents of this too, which would explain their lack of surprise when she insisted she wasn't kidnapped.

Her suspicions had been confirmed when she'd tried to renew the conversation on the journey back to Sabaody. Her father had, very firmly, told her what the marines had told him, and reassured her, using a voice that made her want to scream with frustration from how he seemed to be addressing a simpleton, that it wasn't her fault and that they were going to take care of her.

Too exhausted to renew her efforts to convince them otherwise, she'd remained silent the rest of the trip, and then gone straight to bed upon arrival at the manor she'd known most of her life.

"Here is your tea, miss Evelyn," Jenny interrupted her musings as she offered the delicate china cup to her. Eevee took it with a small thank you, and sipped the hot liquid as her mind worked over what she was going to say to her parents today that might convince them that she was utterly serious in her desire to renew her occupation as a pirate.

Though Eevee had grown to love the new wardrobe that Rouge and Margherita had picked out for her, she wasn't against dresses either. However, as Jenny began to help her dress, she surprised her maid by refusing several aspects of the garment, such as white gloves, an elegant sash, and the broad-rimmed hat with the ribbon laces that was supposed to go with the soft violet gown. "This is fine, Jenny. I'd rather like to start dressing more simply, please." She spoke gently but firmly to her maid, and smiled at the end to lessen the severity of this change.

Jenny stared at her for a moment, glancing down at the hat in her hand with hesitation, then brightened, smiling, "A new fashion statement, miss? Simply yet elegant? You have always been leading in fashion trends, miss Evelyn."

Eevee shook her head as she turned towards the door to her room and started striding towards it with purpose. "No, Jenny. I've just changed since the last time we met. I don't think these frills suit me very much, don't you agree? I'm a pirate now, not a lady."

Silence met her words, and as she opened the door to her room, she glanced over her shoulder to see her maid staring at her with her mouth slightly open. She shook her head with a little sigh, and said reproachfully, "Come now, Jenny. You know I've wanted to be a pirate for a long time."

Jenny closed her mouth and looked somewhat at a loss as she glanced around the room, then back at Eevee. "But…miss…I always assumed you were just…a young girl, making things up to shock your parents!"

It was true, she had rather liked the expression on her parents faces when she'd told them, in her youth, about her dream to be a pirate. Their shock had made her giggle. But then one day, her father had grown cross and lectured her quite severely about never mentioning pirates to him ever again. As a result, she had stopped speaking about being a pirate in front of him ever since.

"Just because I stopped speaking about it after he yelled at me doesn't mean I wanted to be a pirate any less. I joined the Black Mamba Pirates of my own free will, and I intend to return to pirating, post haste," Eevee told Jenny with a smile, but the woman was staring at her with growing concern in her eyes, and she shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot.

"I don't understand…why would you want to be a…a pirate?" she spoke the word as if it was a curse, lowering her voice and nervously glancing at the open door.

"For the freedom, Jenny…for the adventures! While I was away, I had so much fun and learned so much about the sea and myself. I don't plan to give that up," Eevee told her firmly, then smiled and turned away, heading out the door. Behind her, Jenny frowned and glanced towards the window, where a glorious view of the sea was framed in delicate gilding. A small frown slid over her features, a pensive one, as Evelyn's footsteps receded down the hall.

"Thank you again, Raion-oji."

Raion tipped his chin in a slight nod. It was the morning of day three after finding the Golden Hawk Pirates' ship destroyed and Eevee missing - again. The crew was back on its feet, albeit nursing plenty of injuries and bruised psyches. Titus had repaired the ship marvelously, but had cautioned the Golden Hawks that they ought to seek a shipyard just to check over the damages again. Expansive as his skills were, there was only so much he could do with his tools and materials found on an island.

As the crew had steadily come to their senses, more of the pieces to the puzzle started to settle in. Two days after Eevee had joined their ranks, the bounty hunters Hunter and Istio had besieged the ship and with incredibly finesse, had quickly disposed of the crew and snatched Eevee. The captain, Mercedes "Golden Hawk" remembered they'd knocked the girl out with a blow to the temple, but not after Eevee had put up a swell fight for a Lady pirate.

They had to be taking her to Sabaody. Raion had dug up the newspaper from just a couple of days ago and the monetary prize for Eevee's safe return had tripled since the first time he and Sabo had seen it.

At first, the Golden Hawks had been wary of him and his insistence to go after her. He could understand that; after all, they'd taken Eevee in after he really fucked things up. But at the same time, they respected the shit out of him because he was the best pirate on the ocean this generation; the brave and fearless leader of ALL pirates, really. Their prince. So while they didn't like him right now, they knew that if there was anyone who was capable of kidnapping Eevee from the nobles under the noses of the marines, it was him.

"You really gonna get that little chicklet back?" Margherita's friend Anna Maria asked with a raised brow. She was nursing a broken arm and a motley of bruises over one side of her pretty face.

He nodded.

"Well, we've grown real fond of her, so she's welcome to come back," Anna Maria stated, her statement verified by several crew members, including her captain.

It was on the tip of his tongue to say that she wasn't _supposed_ to be with the Golden Hawks, but that she was a Black Mamba and that was the end of it, but Sabo jumped in and said, "I dunno, we might be keeping her this time around," he waggled his eyebrows and jabbed his thumb at Raion in the most unsubtle way.

"Pending he can squelch his inner douchebag…" Margherita hissed.

"And if Eevee accepts his apology…" Titus seconded.

"Alright!" Raion declared, a tick starting in his jaw at everyone teasing him, "If you guys are all set, my crew needs to be casting off now." he disliked being the topic of conversation on the subject of something that made him feel really insecure. Or reminded of the fact that he really fucked this one up. He knew it enough already; he didn't need external reminders.

Mercedes nodded and glanced around, "We'll head to the next island and see if we can't get into a shipyard. Good luck, Raion-oji."

He nodded again and with a few farewells and some intense conversation between Margherita and Anna Maria, the Black Mambas boarded the Hebi-Go once again. Raion headed straight for the helm to set their heading. There was one stop-over to set their Log Pose and then… it was straight to Sabaody.

Eevee was panting heavily as she faced off against her parents. Two large men in black clothes stood on either side of her, arms crossed over their massive chests. She cast them a black glare as she tucked her long hair behind her ears and straightened her shoulders, her chin tilted up defiantly.

"Evelyn, why would you run away from us?" her mother asked in a distressed voice. She sat on a divan in the center of a regally decorated room where they hosted guests. Her father stood behind the divan, his hand on his wife's shoulders. Her mother was pale, and her fingers visibly shook as she held them in her lap. Eevee felt a pang of guilt for causing her so much distress, but at the same time, she was determined that her parents accept the fact that she would never be happy in this gilded cage of a life they led.

"I've told you, I want to be a pirate. I've had a taste of that freedom now, and I won't let go of that. It's my _dream_ ," she told them earnestly, her eyes flickering back and forth between her parents.

"Evelyn, you are _sick_. I don't know what those pirates did to you, but you're not thinking clearly. This is where you belong. This is your life. You are lucky enough to have been born into a position of prestige and privilege. There is _nothing_ that the life of a pirate can offer you except danger, filth, and poverty. For heaven's sake, most pirates end up drowning in the ocean! Or killed by marines! That isn't the life you want; you have been brainwashed by those _bastards,_ " Her father spoke that last word with just disgust and anger that is surprised Eevee. She'd never heard her father speak thusly, and his face was a little red from it. "As your parents, it is our responsibility to make sure you have the best life we can give you. If holding you hostage until the effects of their brainwashing has cleared from your mind, so be it."

With that, he jerked his chin towards the door, his eyes dark as thunderclouds. The two men on their side of Eevee placed a hand on her shoulders.

"Father! You can't do this to me. Can't you respect my desires? My wishes? I don't _want_ this life!" she cried as she struggled to resist their pull on her shoulders.

"Your desires are not your own, Evelyn. They are the deranged result of a pirate's lies and heavens knows what else," her father said firmly. Under his hands, her mother started crying, currying her face in her hands. Her father looked as if it pained him, but he lifted his chin an inch more and said in an authoritative voice, "You are confined to this estate. There will be guards posted outside of your window and all around the estate. Aside from inside of your bedroom, you will be accompanied at all times by a guard. This is for your own good, Evelyn."

"No!" Eevee almost shrieked, and she moved to remove the men's hands from her shoulders, "you can't do this to your own daughter!"

Her father's face faltered, and she could see that his eyes were extra bright, as if he were holding back tears. Frustration exploded in her chest, unable to understand how her parents couldn't see that she wasn't crazy, that she hadn't been brainwashed. She was telling them her true wishes and they dismissed them as the result of some trauma because it was a wish they didn't want her to have. "Take her to her room. She needs to rest. Lock the door. Send Jenny up in an hour with some tea and some dinner, please," her father instructed the men.

"Father! Please, _listen_ to me!" Eevee begged, pulling away from the men.

"Evelyn, my dear child, you will see, once your head has been cleared, that I am doing the best for you that I can," her father said in a stern voice that only wavered at the very end. His hands were tight on her mother's shoulders, and he looked away from Eevee as if he couldn't take the sight anymore.

"You're wrong, father," Eevee insisted, but she'd shrugged off the bodyguards' holds once too many now. The man on her left reached down and effortlessly scooped her up into his arms. Eevee's struggling increased and she let out an offended gasp. "Put me down! How _dare_ you!" she told the man as she thrashed in his hold.

"Please stop struggling, miss. I do not want to hurt you," the man told her in a deep voice, his face impassive.

"I'll stop struggling when you put me down," Eevee retorted, panic starting in her chest. This was a nightmare situation. She was trying to be herself, trying to follow her dream, and her parents didn't believe her. Worse, they were caging her up even tighter, treating her like a prisoner. How could they do this to her? The panic made her struggle harder as common sense and decorum skipped from her mind.

Suddenly, her father was right next to them, and a brief bubble of hope rose up that perhaps he had come to his senses and decided his actions were wrong. She turned her head towards him, prepared to beg, and saw what was in his hand. A syringe.

Her eyes widened, and her mouth opened to protest, but she was too late. Her father's speed had been honed by years of struggling to give injections to unwilling patients. Faster than she could react, the needle was already in her arm, and the sedative was already flowing through her blood.

"Father…" she whispered as her energy fled her, and she went limp in the bodyguard's arms. Her eyelids fluttered as she struggled to remain awake, and saw her father's saddened features before everything went black.

There was a silence in the room, and then, in a weak, quiet voice, Burbank Melinda said, "How could this have happened to our dear, sweet Evelyn?"

Burbank Tobias was quiet as he stared down at his daughter's relaxed features. The bodyguard remained still until Tobias jerked his chin towards the door, then he turned on a heel, and left the room to place Evelyn in her room.

"That was her second attempt to run away…" Tobias murmured, and he drew in a deep breath and let it out, the air rushing out along with his strength. He turned towards his wife and moved to sit next to her, pulling her into the circle of his arms. "I think we must take a more drastic option. Perhaps it is not her parents who can bring her mind back from the brink."

Melinda's quiet sniffled ceased, and she lifted her head, eyes shinning from her shed tears. "What do you mean, dear?"

"Before she was kidnapping, I had begun discussions to find her a suitable husband, one who will take care of her and keep the hospital running after we are gone," Tobia murmured, staring off across the room, eyes unseeing.

"You mean…you think marriage might help her return to her old self?" Melinda asked, turning hopeful eyes up to her husband.

"She is well past the age where she should be wed. We'd put it off for so long because of her dancing career and her medical training…but she needs to have a man to protect her. Perhaps a little romance will help heal the trauma she has suffered," Tobias said, looking down at his wife. "In fact, I already know the perfect man for her. He has asked, on occasion, about Evelyn's hand in marriage, and I think he has ability to keep her under control until she had gotten past this traumatic experience."

"Truly? Who, my love?" Melinda asked, lifting a lace handkerchief to her eyes and patting them dry.

"Lord Montagu Rowan. He is a strong man, with strict beliefs, and he is also fair. I think he would suit our dear daughter well, and he would protect her with his life," Tobias said with a nod, is voice becoming more and more sure sounding.

"Lord Montagu? I think that is a good match…I like the man," Melinda said with a smile, her shoulders relaxing, as if this was the answer to all of their problems. "Yes, I think this is a good idea. I know, that given Evelyn's current…illness, she will not be happy. But in time, I'm sure that Lord Montagu can help her forget her trauma. She will see this is what is best for her," she said, nodding her head.

"I shall contact him in the morning then," Tobias told his wife, and pulled her up from the divan. "Come, let us retire for the night."

He felt like he was going through the stages of grief all over again. Anger, denial, helplessness… now, several days into the voyage to Sabaody, he was filled with this sorta wild conviction that made him feel how Sabo looked when the kid didn't sleep for days.

He'd run through ten thousand scenarios in his head but every one of them boiled down to one thing, one line he had to say to her because it was from the very bottom of his heart; he was sorry. Raion didn't apologize for much, at least, not seriously. He tried not to live a life he felt sorry for living.

But when it came to this, when it came to her, he was sorry. Now that he'd had the chance to sit back and take a different perspective, none of this was her fault. He was not above owning his portion; which happened to be a hundred percent.

Breakfast was a bit of a mess this morning. Sabo and Zeke were, obviously, the first ones up. Sabo was reading the paper when Raion walked in, followed closely by Margherita and Titus, who were having what Raion might have teasingly called a "lover's spat". Not that anything remotely romantic was going on between the snake girl and the fishman, but on rare occasions, they went at it when Margherita had rubbed all his scales the wrong way or something.

He didn't even know what it was fully about, but by the time they were in the galley, Margherita was getting real fired up at Titus, who was frowning at her and shaking his head and she stood on the table to get eye level with him. Something about materials and blowing shit up and some damage she was causing, to which Raion got involved because there was no way anything could happen to the Hebi to slow down their progress to Sabaody.

Eventually, the whole thing ended with Raion holding Margherita back as she lashed her claws at Titus, missing him by the skin of his teeth and digging Raion's forearm instead. Zeke laid the whole incident to bed with less than five words and stacks of food. Margherita pouted next to Titus, Raion nursed his burning arm with a dose of her antivenin, and Sabo settled back into the paper.

"Anything interesting?" Raion asked, sliding his chair up next to his best friend to glanced over his shoulder.

Sabo shrugged and turned the page, "Same old shit, really…" his voice drifted and Raion caught sight of what his vice-captain was looking at.

A picture of Eevee up in the corner of the paper, fairly small, black and white. She was all dolled up again, looking less like a woman and more like a Barbie, standing next to a tall, thin man a little older than they were with light hair combed back and a patient smile on his face.

Red alarms went off in his head. He snatched the paper from Sabo, sliding it across the table and read the caption under the photo not once, but twice, certain that he hadn't read it right the first time:

 _ **BURBANK - MONTAGU**_

 _Burbank Tobias and Melinda of Sabaody Archipelago announce the engagement of their only daughter Burbank Evelyn to Lord Montagu Rowen, son of the late Lord and Lady Montagu of Mariejois._

 _Lady Evelyn, the bride-to-be, is the heiress of the prestigious and renown Burbank Hospital and Apothcary, where her family has been serving the medical needs of the community for nearly 100 years. She has recently been rescued by Marine officials from a traumatic pirate kidnapping._

 _Lord Montagu Rowen, the groom-to-be, is the sole inheritor of his late parents_ _'_ _wealthy estate and business in arms-dealing._

 _The couple is planning to be wed on the 20th of August, 1551._

Nothing in him moved. Not his heart, not his lungs, not his muscles. He didn't notice that everyone at the table had stopped moving, watching him intently. He didn't protest when Sabo carefully took the paper back from him and scanned the article.

Holy shit. She was getting married. The first thought that came to his mind was _I'_ _ve lost_ _…_ and the next one that came to him was a little more violent. No fucking way was she getting married! Over his dead body. She was _his._ And Raion didn't share.

"What's wrong?" Margherita demanded.

Sabo glanced up slowly, his blue eyes wide, "She's getting married…" he breathed.

The snake girl gasped and snatched the paper, her and Titus and Zeke leaning over it and reading rapidly, "The 20th!" she gasped again, "That's…"

"Next Friday," Sabo answered, "Ten days from today."

"The hell she is!" Raion slammed his hands into the table and stood swiftly, "That girl is _mine_ and I'm not gonna let some stuff-shirt dandy lord have her!" he stormed out of the galley, his breathing fast and his nerve endings tight. He didn't stop until he was at the helm and blindly mulling over the large map of the Grand Line under the glass.

She was getting married. No. No, she wasn't. The only person she was gonna be marrying around here was him… and as soon as he thought that, he forced himself to calm down. Alright, there would be no jumping to marriage, for crissake. If this whole situation worked out the way he'd hoped, he had to work on being a boyfriend first before he started running around, marking his territory with titles like _husband_.

Damn it, he _was_ in love with her, wasn't he? When had that happened? It snuck up on him, hadn't it? No, it hadn't. He'd loved her the day he ran into her and knocked all her groceries to the street in the Goa Kingdom; he just hadn't had the vocabulary and brain capacities to put it into something as trivial as words at 13 years old. The rest of his post-pubescent life he'd tried to fill the void she'd left in his life with other girls. He'd gone back to her house the following summer, only to learn her family had moved away. Looking back, the disappointment he'd felt had been profound.

No one else compared, really. He'd wanted her on his crew as the doctor, he'd wanted her as his female lead in his shit-show of a pirate life. If he was having such a violent, visceral reaction to the idea of some _other guy_ taking her away and loving her and fucking her and touching her… he fisted his hands together, feeling hot on the inside. Then it had to be true. He was in love with her.

He had to get to Sabaody before that wedding. She had to come back with him. He didn't even want to dwell on the alternatives.

"I'm sorry, Lord Monatgu, but as I said before, I don't want to marry you," Eevee said in a rather frank voice, her head tilted back as she stared up at the man before her. Her hands were clasped before her and her shoulders were straight. They stood in one of the elegant rooms in his estate, where her things had recently been moved to, _for her own protection,_ of course.

Lord Montagu Rowan stared down at her, and his deep brown eyes flickered over her features before taking in her stance and set shoulders. Finally, he tilted his head to the side, his expression calm and his eyes unreadable. "Please, call me Rowan," he said in an unhurried, unflappable voice. His voice was deep, and he spoke in a tone that was commanding, yet gentle. "I understand you have recently gone through a trauma at the hands of a notorious pirate."

Eevee let out a sigh that bordered on frustrated, and turned away from the man, striding across the elegant room to stand by the window, gazing out over the roofs capes and out to the sea, where the setting sun was glittering beautifully on its surface. Her heart tightened at the sight, and it felt like her whole body was being subtly tugged in the direction of _freedom_.

"It was not a trauma, despite what my parents may have told you," she informed him, not taking her eyes off the sea. "I chose to go with the Dark Prince. I do not want to be a lady; I want, and have wanted since I was a young child, to be a pirate and live freely on the seas. My parents think I have been brainwashed by the pirates, and that marriage will hopefully set my feeble female mind to right."

"It is true that you do not sound like the traumatized lady your parents made you out to seem," Rowan's voice came from directly behind her, and Eevee jumped, because he hadn't made a sound in approaching her position. She turned to face him, finding herself, once more, in the position of having to look up at his impressive height, but now she was between the window and him, with nowhere to retreat.

"However…" the man reached up a hand, and brushed the back of it across her cheek, then tucked a strand of her loose auburn hair behind one ear. She frowned a little, but made no move to duck away from his touch. "Your parents truly do have the best intentions for you, and impressed upon me the great responsibility of providing the best life for a beautiful, genteel lady, such as yourself. Not only that, but the merging of our two families is highly beneficial to my own company's aims."

Eevee's brows flickered into an even deeper frown, and she opened her mouth to say something, but he placed a finger over her lips with a little _tsk_ sound. "That being said, my motivations to tie you to me aside, I am a fair man, and I know that, in time, you can be happy. I will not waver from my decision, as I am a man who always keeps my word, and I promised your parents to provide and take care of you. I also reassured them I have ample ability in protecting you not only from being further _kidnapped,_ " he said the word with a slight, droll smile, "by pirates, but from yourself as well. You will find running away from _my_ estate to me much more difficult than it was at your parent's."

He removed his finger from her lips, but did not retreat from his position, his expression gentle but firm. "You would keep your wife-to-be as prisoner?" Eevee asked, her chin rising another notch as defiance flashed in her violet eyes.

"Yes," he said, and his voice was so blunt and earnest that Eevee was a little taken back, and her eyes widened a little in surprise. "If that is how you see your situation, then you might consider yourself a prisoner. But sometimes precious things must be locked up, for their own protection. However, I am confident that I could make you happy, in time. I am not a beast to lock a princess in a tower," another smile ghosted across his lips, and he tilted his head to the side as he stared at her. "You will have everything you could possibly need, and I will give you anything you want, within reason. Once I come to trust that you won't run as your earliest opportunity, I will even let you sail the seas as you wish, so long as I am accompanying you, and with ample guards."

He was such a reasonable man, in an entirely unyielding way, that Eevee found she rather liked him. She still had no desire to marry the man, but she could see that, given a different circumstance, she would have wanted to be friends with such a man. In fact, it struck her that he'd make a rather good pirate. She studied him, as he studied her, and felt as if they were in a standoff, toe to toe.

Finally, she shrugged her shoulders and crossed her arms. "You are being very honest with me, Lord Montagu, and I appreciate such a frankness." She truly meant that, too. Most men would never have spoken to a lady with such honesty or bluntness. In fact, most lords wouldn't deem such a conversation necessary at all; their word was law, and a lady was always to be subservient to her lord, no explanation or convincing needed. This was not true in all cases, of course, but a vast majority of lords were full of their own power, becoming pompous, self-centered brats, in Eevee's opinion. "So I will do you the same courtesy in return: I maintain the fact that I do not want to marry you, not in any reflection of yourself, for I think you are correct in assuming you would make a good husband, but not to me. To some gentle lady who is happy in this world of elegance and gilding, who wants to be sheltered and protected, perhaps. I, however, am not _genteel_ any longer. I have no wish to be sheltered or protected, I want to be able to do that for myself. That being said, I will not cease my attempts to escape this life, neither now nor after being wed to you, if that is what it comes down to."

Amusement flickered in Lord Montagu's eyes, and he smiled slowly. He nodded his head and let out a little chuckle, "We will see, fair Evelyn. And remember, you are to call me Rowan. I am your husband-to-be, after all." He reached up to cup her chin in one large hand, and leaned down until their faces were an inch apart. Eevee refused to retreat, and held her ground, her eyes steady as she stared back at him. "We _will_ be wed, and I think I will enjoy making you love me. Such a fiery woman is a fine catch, and I will not concede."

Then he released her, turned on his heel, and strode away, his footfalls silent across the marble floor. Eevee stared at his back as he walked away, frowning. He was not the usual idiotic noble man, easily manipulated. She realized, then, that her challenge was going to be much more difficult than she imagined. She was going to have to take her efforts up a notch. And she had less than 6 days now to do so.

Sabo hadn't seen his best friend this wound up in a very, very long time.

Certainly, Raion was prone to bursts of emotion occasionally. He was like a perfect cocktail of Nami and Luffy; guided by his emotional impulses but he could back them up with pure logic if he needed to. He could think out a well-laid strategy that ensured that everything would go without a hitch but that also lent itself room for flexibility. He laughed off the dangerous stuff, but got caught up in the moment for the small things.

Rarely though, did his captain wind up tight as a top over anything. He was good for letting things go, one way or the other. Not this time, clearly. It was evident first in the music that poured out of his quarters at random points during the day. Then the abundance of maps that began to grow in his room, drying on lines strung up. After that, he started doing weird non-Raion things. Sabo caught him washing dishes the other day. He reorganized the cargo hold the other night. Just yesterday, the vice-captain found him in the medical ward, fixing something with a hammer and a box of nails. No reason, apparently, just decided that something needed to be fixed. Sabo had had to send Titus in there afterwards to check on him.

He wasn't sleeping, either. His dark eyes had taken on a stark similarity to that of a caged wild animal crossed with a mad scientist and he was constantly clicking and unblocking his swords at his hip. He had this sorta… nervous energy about him that kept him going like he'd consumed his weight in caffeinated beverages.

The real kicker was that his behavior became steadily more erratic the closer they got to Sabaody.

Sabo had taken it upon himself to bear the responsibility of a paranoid mother hen over his captain. Raion wasn't ever out of his sight for more than a few minutes. He was half convinced he'd lose him in the cargo hold somewhere and find him rocking himself in a corner, drowning a doll in a mason jar of sake and chanting strange magic spells.

Currently, they were sparring in the gym, the large room on the bottom deck adjacent to the medical ward. They had roughly three days to get to Sabaody. Today was the 17th. The wedding was the 20th. Raion was pent up about it; Sabo had already laid him out twice in an hour and that was rare. Sabo was fast, of course, faster than Raion's haki most of the time, but it was like the captain couldn't clear his head out enough to use it. Reasonable. If he'd just found out that Dahlia was being forced into an arranged married and he was racing against the seven seas to get her back before the "I do's" were uttered, ya, he'd probably be off his rocker too.

"You wanna go again?" Sabo asked, turning his head to the side to glance at Raion. They were lying on the foam flooring, bare-chested, sweaty and nursing several tender spots.

Raion did a kip-up, arcing his body forward and up until he was on his feet swiftly, "Ya. Let's go."

Sabo rose to his feet and within seconds, he was on the defense against Raion's feet and hands. Even his own boundless energy was barely outpacing Raion. He grinned, "Something on your mind, senchou?" he asked teasingly, dodging a punch meant for his jaw.

Each strike that Sabo dodged and blocked, Raion's voice growled out, "I'm. Going. To. Kill. That. Dandy. Noble. Fucker." he kicked Sabo in the sternum and sent the vice-captain reeling back, "Do you think they've fucked?"

Sabo coughed as his diaphragm spasmed, "No…" he took a deep breath to regulate, "No, c'mon, dude, they're _nobles_. Nothing's happening. Stop dwelling."

"Do you think she likes him? What if she wants to marry him?"

"She doesn't. I assure you."

"You don't know for sure."

"Of course I don't know for _sure_ ," Sabo cracked his neck and came back to center to start sparring again, "She could be doing it to spite you or bait you, but I don't think so. She's not that person, you know? Even if she's pissed as shit at you."

Raion threaded his fingers through his dark hair and yanked, "How do you _live_ like this? This not-knowing? The distance? Don't you worry Dahlia's gonna fuck some other guy? How do you go months like this? This is not a good feeling!"

Sabo laughed, "Because I don't get worked up over it. Because this is what her and I signed up for from the start. Because I trust her."

The pirate prince took a deep breath, "What if she doesn't come back?"

"She will."

"Humor me. What if she doesn't?"

"I'm not gonna humor you because you're being ridiculous," Sabo draped his hands over his hips, "She didn't want to leave in the first place, but you were an asshole so she had to."

"I'm still an asshole."

"You won't be anymore. It's fine. Stop freaking out," he beckoned with his hand, "C'mon, let's fight again, waste some of that energy you have so I don't find you slitting your wrists in the bathroom or something."

Raion rolled his eyes, but put up his hands for another round.

"You are much more clever than I gave you credit for…My own fault, I suppose. I shouldn't underestimate you," Rowan's soft voice cut through the sound of Eevee's heavy breathing. "I did not expect you to use your apothecary and medicinal skills in such a manner. It's rather impressive. More and more, I see that you are the ideal wife for me. I don't think I could have been happy with a docile, simpering woman. A lady with strength and resolve suits be much better." Rowan smiled, and Eevee felt an involuntary shiver race through her. That smile was neither cruel nor sinister, nor was it gentle or sweet. It was a calm, satisfied smile, and there was a calculating admiration about it, as well as a sense of possession. "Will any of my men die from the poisons you tipped all of your weapons with?" Elbows propped on the desk before him, Rowen rested his chin on the back of his hands and tilted his head to the side.

Eevee did not answer him right away. She was, once more, standing between two large men, both of whom had only recently, and somewhat reluctantly, released her arms. She had no bruises whatsoever, and only because they, along with the other men who had found her and brought her back to the Montagu Estate, were highly trained and skilled fighters, so much so that they were able to completely disable her and bring her back without harming a hair on her body, despite her attempts to resist. She'd managed to take down several of the men on the estate during the escape, but they had been taken by surprise and unprepared for her concealed weapons, which had consisted of knives collected from the dinner table throughout the meals she'd taken here. She'd tipped them with a fast-acting and strong sedative that she'd made. During the stay, she'd been allowed to resume her apothecary work, and had manufactured the sedative in that manner. She _could_ have made deadly poisons, but she couldn't bring herself to kill men who were only doing their job.

Montagu Rowan was patient, and observed her with that same, unchanging expression as she stared back at him somewhat defiantly. He didn't blink, no even once, and finally Eevee looked away from him, her breathing finally evening out. "No," she finally told him, her voice quiet. "The sedative will wear off in a few hours. Their hearts have slowed significantly, but they will not die."

Rowan sat back in his chair, and he nodded his head slowly, his smile widening a little. "Very clever indeed…well, that brings your escape attempts, including those before coming here, to a total of five. You're rather more persistent that I thought you'd be. You are a lady of your word, apparently, when you warned me that you would try to escape this life."

"You were warned," she reminded him, shrugged a little. She glanced at the men flanking her, both of them maintaining zero expression as they stared straight ahead without moving. "I think I might have actually succeeded this last time, if I was back at my parent's estate with _their_ guards rather than yours." Her tone was half a compliment, and half a complaint. She didn't know that inside, she was actually starting to panic a little. The wedding was _tomorrow,_ and her chances for escape, and the likelihood of success, was quickly dwindling.

Rowan was silent for a while, and her eyes flickered back up to find him studying her, his smile since faded, but his eyes glowing with interest. She kept her shoulders straight and tipped her chin back a little, returning his stare with one of her own. "More and more, I find you on my mind, sweet Evelyn. You are a puzzle that I cannot easily put together. You are simply fascinating. You know, we have met before, you and I. Before you're kidnapping, that is."

Eevee frowned, surprised by his words. They'd met? Her mind raced for the memory, but her time before being a pirate seemed so far away now, so small compared to the vastness of her life at sea, that she was having difficulty.

"It was after one of yours dances…as a ball to celebrate the completion of the show. You were such a proper lady, the perfect image of beauty and refinery. We met only briefly, during an introduction, but I watched you, occasionally, during the evening. How could I not, really? Most of the men in the room were watching you…but you seemed completely oblivious to that fact. With you had all of the class and elegance of any noble lady, you lacked the arrogance and self-absorption often shared by the females of our rank," Rowan got to his feet, and walked around the desk until he was standing right in front of her. She had to tip her head back to look up at him, and he smiled down at her as he lifted a hand and brushed a disarrayed strand from her face.

"And now, you seem like an entirely different creature…the same beautiful, seemingly fragile woman, but with a tenacity and strength that I never would have guessed possible, looking back at that elegant dancer. The more I learn about you, the more I want you as my wife. Tomorrow, that day will come, and I will begin to learn even more about you." He smiled, a glimmer of excitement barely visible in his calm, steady eyes. "I can hardly wait, my lioness. Now be a good lady and get some sleep. Tomorrow will be a big day. Oh, and the guards assigned to your quarters and outside of your window have been tripled, in case you got any last minute thoughts about escaping." He didn't tell her that the number of guards would be increased almost tenfold for the actual day of the marriage, just in case some pirates decided to crash the party.

With that, he let his hand drop from her face, and turned on his heel. "Sleep well, my lovely bride," her murmured to her as he walked back towards his desk.

Eevee said nothing— there was nothing she could say that would gain her anything in that moment—and turned of her own accord and strode from the room, her two silent 'bodyguards' at her heel. She'd studied this man, and found that while he was a fair and reasonable man, a man who likely even believed her when she said she hadn't been kidnapped, he was also a man who never let go of what was his. And he viewed her as his now; he would never let her go willingly. It seemed the more she struggled to be free, the more he wanted her. She was certain, too, that he believed he could make her love him, and saw it as a challenge of sorts. This challenge excited him, and it was the thing that most reminded her that he was, when all was said and done, just another noble: handed everything in life, and so bored with the ease of it. She was in no way boring to him, and rather than being disgusted by her insistence of being a pirate, he was even _more_ intrigued by it.

Was she truly going to have to wed him…?

—-

The next day, Eevee stood, facing an enormous mirror. Her mother was behind her, chattering away about how excited she was for her daughter and how _good_ marriage was going to be for her. Eevee had long since stopped listening to what she was saying.

She was dressed in one of the most loveliest gowns she's ever seen in her life. Even though she wanted nothing to do with this marriage, she couldn't help but admire the gown. The lace that covered the fine white silk was woven in such a way as to appear like translucent clouds, roped from the sky and infused into the dress. The lace continued down her back into a train that trailed on the ground behind her. Her shoulders and arms were bare, and a gold necklace with a large diamond hung past her throat. Her hair had been pinned up around her head, a bun of perfect curls that had several of them spilling down the back of her neck like water tumbling from a breaking bubble. Several more of the curls had been left loose around her face.

"Mother, this is a mistake. I do not love him. Please, call this off," Eevee tried, once more, to plead with her mother.

"Evelyn, I know you do not love him right now, but you will. That is how I fell in love with your father, after all. This is for the best, you'll see. You're young and you've been through a great trauma. You will see, in time, that what we are doing is the right choice for you," her mother said firmly, and in a voice that said she would not longer discuss the matter. Burbank Melinda hardly spoke with such firmness, but Eevee was familiar enough with it from her childhood to know any more pleading would be useless.

 _You're wrong…_ Eevee thought as she stared at herself helplessly.

"Don't worry, my child. Everything will turn out right. Now, you're all ready. The ceremony will be begin shortly. Wait here; the maids will come for you and guide you to the aisle. You're father will be waiting for you to take your hand when you enter the room," her mother said as she finished her fussing with the veil. "I must find my seat so that I can watch you coming down the aisle! Oh, you look so lovely…I'm so proud of you!" her mother said, and tears actually sprang to her eyes. Eevee wanted to remind her that she was the only one excited about this, but she couldn't bring herself to ruin the happiness radiating from the woman. Instead, she patiently listened to all of her instructions and advice, even though she didn't really care. Her attempts at escape had failed, and now she would have to wait until after the wedding to try again. Perhaps then, the guards will be fewer. Since she wanted a pirate, she supposed it didn't truly _matter_ if she was married or not.

Her stomach twisted painfully, and Raion's face flashed in her mind. She quickly trampled down on that thought. There was no room for him in her mind when she already had so much else to deal with. He filled so much of her thoughts, though, that lately, she'd felt like a zombie by how much of her brain she'd had to turn off to avoid thinking about him.

"Alright darling, I'll see you soon! Good luck!" her mother called as she scampered from the room, leaving Eevee with only maids left, and, of course, the numerous guards standing outside of the door. Eevee waved to her with a gloved hand, which dropped, like a limp dolls, the moment her mother was out of sight. Her eyes flickered back to the mirror, and her stomach grew cold at the sight. How could this be happening…? How could she have gone from a happy, carefree pirate…to a wedding doll about to be _given_ to a noble man who, as much as he might _admire_ her uniqueness, still saw her as a possession?

And worst of all? The part which made her feel brittle and small inside when on the outside, she'd put up such a strong front? A small, tiny part of her, so small and tiny because she'd tried her utmost to squash and stamp it out, still hoped that Raion who save her from this golden hell. The Pirate Prince, come to save the lady from her gilded cage.

Right. As if that would happen.

Eevee sucked in a deep breath, and squared her shoulders. She was on her own now, and after her brief adventures of a pirate, she'd discovered her own strength. She was going to have to rely on that from now on, if she ever wanted to follow her dream once more.


	14. Chapter 14

***** DISCLAIMER, PLEASE READ- A Pirate's Life for Me is the third (kinda fourth) published story in this One Piece Universe that I and Jesachi, u/711995/Jesachi, have written together. Many people really enjoyed the first one, The Way of the Sword and Rose, but Jesachi and I have moved on to other writing in our lives, and we don't think we're ever going to go back and edit these. Therefore, this is a WARNING that this story is completely UN-EDITED and also written as a roleplay between myself and Jesachi, so the point of view switches between the two main characters every now and then. If this bothers you, don't read it :) We are only publishing these because we thought our fans might want to see the direction we took with our One Piece Universe. I hope you enjoy! Raion and Eevee are an amazing couple, and Luffy's entire crew makes an appearance eventually :)**********

They arrived at the Archipelago with two hours to spare.

They docked in the seedier groves and beat feet to the wealthy districts. Raion knew that the Burbank Family Estate was in the highest numbered groves, along with the hotels and inns. The news clippings that came in about the wedding over the course of the last week had detailed simply the location of the affair; thankfully, here on Sabaody at her family's house and not Montagu's in Mariejois, which would have been nasty to get to.

Grove 78 was completely barricaded off to the public. A fence had been erected around the whole grove and marine soldiers stood in pairs at twenty foot intervals around it. Only local traffic and those with wedding invitations could even get through.

Raion and Titus stood at the base of a tall tree in Grove 77, a baby den den mushi in their hands. Margherita and Zeke were stationed one grove over in 76, which also flanked 78 and they were equipped with a baby snail too.

"The foot traffic is crazy over here," Margherita's voice came through the snail. Raion knew she was perched high in a tree with a pair of binoculars, as Sabo was also above Raion, "All sorts of fancy nancies piling through the gate."

"Any weaknesses?" Raion demanded.

"Security's tighter than a virgin," Sabo muttered, "There's a high rock wall surrounding an estate on the north side; I'm gonna take a wild guess that that's her house. Senchou, there are marines everywhere."

"Bounty hunters too," Margherita replied, "And I see some mercenaries. Guards galore."

"Look for patterns," Raion stated, "How often do they patrol? What are their routes? I need an opening. Something, anything. Five seconds of neglect in one area."

He'd told his nakama early on that this was going to be a very risky mission. Nobles like Montagu had a lot of fingers in the pie, so to speak, when it came to the marines. Raion had expected tight security, after all, the Fleet Admiral wasn't an idiot and he had to suspect Raion would show his ugly mug before the wedding. But honestly, he hadn't been expecting this. It was set up like a fucking prison around here.

Silence for a few long minutes. Then, Sabo's voice, "West side, two o'clock, about a thirty second gap where no one can see the fence. It's behind the Flying Fish Hotel, near the water."

"That'll do. Margherita, can you sneak in?"

He could practically hear her eye roll as she said, "Of course, I'm a snake, for crissake. How the hell do you think I made a living before you people?"

"I want you on the inside. Cut the fence, sneak us in and then fix it back together. Can you do that?" he glanced at Titus, who nodded as Margherita said, "Please. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy."

They had to change their outfits to blend into the crowd of nobles. The goal was to make as little commotion as possible on the way in, at least. He didn't want anyone to hurriedly take Eevee away and have this whole fight be for naught. Once he had her, the fight out would be cake.

Everyone had clothes from the Pirate Ball a few weeks ago. Raion stole an invitation right out of someone's back pocket and handed it to Margherita. Seamlessly, she made her way past the marines, flashing her invitation and a haughty, seventeen-year-old-girl smile. The rest of the crew waited, ducked behind some rocks that framed the ocean. Thirty agonizing seconds of cutting the wire fence during the gap of surveillance, ducking under it and waiting for a second gap to close the fence.

Heads low, weapons concealed and using the crowd to keep a low profile, they headed for the Burbank Estate. Sabo checked his watch.

"Half an hour" he muttered to Raion, "What's our next plan?"

Raion shrugged, "Making it up as I go here."

Up a few streets and right outside the property, the Black Mambas scrambled up the roof of a hotel and surveyed. Raion couldn't shake the feeling that this was very easy so far. No one had spotted them. Not that he suspected the nobles made a habit of knowing what, exactly, the Black Mamba pirate crew looked like, but marines were everywhere and not a soul looked at them twice. He wondered idly if this was the calm before the storm.

The Burbank Estate was enormous. Bigger than the Straw Hat compound that housed five families with a total of 15 people, occasionally more, depending on who was visiting. He tried to wrap his head around this mansion being just for a small family of three, not only that, but this is place had been in the Burbank Family for years. The way Eevee told it, her mother had inherited the property and so they'd relocated from Goa to here to continue the family business. Not only was there the main building with a shit ton of windows - what did they keep in all those rooms? - but there were buildings all over the property. This was the place his pirate princess grew up in. People in all variety of fancy gowns trickled in, stranglers for the big event that was, oh, twenty minutes from commencing.

"We'll never get in the front door…" Raion murmured, binoculars pressed to his peepers, "Pending we make it over that wall, of course… there are marines everywhere… and some other guys who could be that bastard's personal forces… shit!" he cursed, "They have Pacifistas…" _damn you, Fleet Admiral_ , Raion thought, even if part of him was flattered. Clearly, his crew made the commander-in-chief of the marines nervous enough to deploy robotic monsters to stop them. It was hard to imagine Coby ruffled about anything, but he knew the power of the Black Mambas wasn't just rumor.

"This is a whole lot of security for one little chit who can't throw a dagger worth a damn," Margherita whistled, "Something feels real off about this."

"The marines suspect we'll be here, obviously," Sabo said, "But this has to be the entire local headquarters concentrated right here…"

"What do you think she told them during interrogation?" Raion asked.

Sabo shook his head slowly, "I can only guess… but I'm wondering if this much security is to keep her _in_ as much as it is to keep us _out._ She doesn't want to be a lady, so I'm guessing she's a huge flight risk. What if she tried to run away again? If I were the Fleet Admiral…" he drifted off and Raion picked up his thought.

"I wouldn't believe any cock and bull story about her being "kidnapped" by pirates. So our presence is less of a suspicion and more of a fact…" Raion said.

"Exactly," Sabo agreed, "And the heat we could bring down on Sabaody would set the place ablaze. Coby wasn't nearly prepared at Impel Down for the shit the Dragon rained on them. He's not taking chances this time, not with the most dangerous pirate crew in the world this generation."

"I don't wanna sound like a pussy, but maybe we should wait until _after_ the wedding?" Margherita hedged.

"No," Titus said, "Montagu's family is from Mariejois. After the wedding, Eevee will be brought there and we'll never get her back."

"So. We fighting our way in?" Zeke asked in his easy yet straight tone.

"No," Raion insisted, "We'll have to fight our way out, so I'd rather just do it once. Besides, those Pacifistas sketch me out…" he counted. Five. Five laser breathing, deadly accurate, armor shelled mother fuckers. Raion was good, for sure, but even five was a lot for him, "Sabo, talk to me, what do you see?"

"Well. There's only one way in and out of the property. Multiple entrances to the mansion, guards posted at every door, marines and Pacifistas stationed around the perimeter." the vice-captain rattled off, "Though… towards the south, I see a door with two _very_ distracted young marines…" he grinned.

Raion angled the binoculars. At the door, two young officers were coyly sharing a bottle of sake and talking. He smirked, "There we go. Let's get over the wall and over to them. And don't let the Pacifistas catch you."

Ten minutes later, two marine officers were propped, unconscious, against the side of the house and Raion and his crew were muscling inside. The hall was quiet. For now.

"Ten minutes to noon, senchou…" Sabo warned. Eevee would be walking down the aisle at promptly noon.

"Alright, listen," Raion said, "Follow me. Stick together. Don't kill any nobles or civilians. We get Eevee, we get out and we get lost before the forces _outside_ decide to come _inside_."

"Are you planning to work an apology in there somewhere?" Margherita asked, half teasing.

"Shut it. I'll do that when everyone is safe."

The snake girl rolled her eyes.

"Yosh. Let's go." they headed off down the hall, their footfalls silent. His adrenaline was pumping. He could feel her in the house, taste her anxiety like a poison in the back of his mouth and it was oddly soothing. She didn't want to get married to this guy anymore than he wanted her to. He could just tell.

Words were swimming around his head, endless apologies when suddenly, they turned a corner and found themselves in a grand foyer, facing the front entrance. He slammed to a stop, throwing his arms out to try and catch his nakama before they were caught by the fifty armed guards that lingered, but Sabo slammed into Margherita and she fell hard into Raion's arm and tripped him. Like dominoes, the five of them fell into the foyer with crashing and swearing.

"Damn it, Sabo!" Margherita hissed, "Watch it!"

He laughed.

"You okay?" Titus asked.

"The pirates!" someone shouted and Raion snapped his head up, "The pirates are here! The Black Mambas!"

"The Black Mambas are here!"

"The Dark Prince!"

"Someone alert Montagu-sama!"

"Get the pirates!"

"Well. Fuck." Raion muttered as guards and marines started pouring out of the woodwork. He took off his suit jacket and loosened his tie, "I guess it's that time already…"

Eevee felt like her mind was taking a vacation from her body as she faced the pews upon pews of nobles who had all turned in their seats to oooo and awww over her as she entered the chapel. Her father had taken her arm, his chest thrown out proudly as whispers and murmurs rippled through the room of the beautiful bride in her stunning dress. She glanced at him, then refocused her eyes forward. At the end, she could see Rowan watching her, his eyes speaking his approval of her appearance and his lips set in a calm, satisfied smile.

She'd checked out from the chapel though, her thoughts withdrawn. Was she truly walking down the aisle on her wedding day? A wedding day was something a girl dreamed about from a young age, and she never imagined it would have turned out like this: practically a prisoner, coerced into marrying a man she didn't love by her own parents. Each step she took felt like the shackles around her ankles were tightening.

She considered turning on her heel and bolting for the door, but she knew she'd never be able to escape, and would only end up making a complete fool of herself, not to mention convince the nobles assembled there that she truly _had_ lost her mind.

She was halfway down the aisle when her senses tingled. A frown flickered over her features, half concealed behind the gauzy veil over her face. She _must_ be losing her mind. Or perhaps her mind was simply desperate. For a second, she thought her haki had sensed Raion. How silly, considering he was probably half a sea away.

And then shouts started echoing from the closed doors behind her.

… _Pirates…_

… _Black Mambas…_

… _The Dark Prince._

Those words rang crystal clear in her mind, and she stopped dead in her tracks, her breath stilling in her lungs. Her father had taken two more steps, and was brought up short by her immobile arm. He turned around in confusion, his brows furrowed as he stared at her. "Evelyn?" he inquired.

But then the shouts were getting louder, and a ripple of unease and muttering spread throughout the room as guests stirred in their seats and turned to stare at the doors. Her father's gaze was pulled away from her face as he glanced around the room.

A tension spread among the individuals seated around her, because despite the _vast_ number of marines and guards known to be protecting the estate, most nobles were inherently afraid of just the mention of pirates. Eevee had also gone tense, but for a complete different reason. She had yet to move, her eyes slightly widened and unseeing.

Raion was here. Her heart had stopped in her chest, and now it renewed its beating with vigor.

Her nakama had come. They were _here_. The hope she'd tucked into the back of her mind suddenly flooded forward, and with it came a rush of happiness that was shocking in its power. Her nakama had come for her! She felt like shouting and jumping for joy! Forget the fact that there was practically an army surrounding them, her nakama had come for her! Forget the fact that she wasn't technically _their_ nakama anymore… _They_ had come for _her_.

The huge bouquet of white roses fell from her fingers, and she spun on her heel so fast that her father stumbled back from surprise. She'd taken three running steps towards the sounds of the voices, her dress gathered up in her arms, when suddenly, a chest was blocking her path.

Strong, unrelenting hands closed around her upper arms, preventing her from crashing into Montagu Rowan. She gasped, her eyes flying up to his face to see him staring down at her with an unreadable expression. There was no panic, no anger, just a calm resolve. And a knowing glint in his eyes that told her he knew exactly what she'd been about to do. He didn't say anything to her, just stared at her with those fierce eyes of his. Then he broke the contact, but didn't release her arms as he raised his head.

"Marcel! Antonio!" he barked, his voice carrying over the rising hysteria as nobles scrambled to their feet, panicking over the realization that pirates were storming the wedding. "Stay and maintain order with our guests. Ensure that the pirates do not harm a single one of them," Rowan ordered two men who had appeared, just as suddenly, behind him. "I will take the Lady Evelyn to a more secure location."

The words, and his intentions, were just registering when suddenly he leaned down and scooped her up in his arms. "No!" she cried, struggling against his grasp, but it was too late. Already, moving at a speed she never would have thought possible for a noble, Rowan whisked her away from the commotion. Before she had time to process, they were already in the antechamber of the chapel. "Put me down!" Eevee shouted at him, straining against his grasp. The gown she wore, however, made maneuvering difficult, and was corseted so tightly around her chest that she could barely breathe. "Let me go with them!" she pleaded with him, striking his chest with her fists. In the antechamber, he found the secret door that lead to the underground tunnels of her estate, and was already descending with her.

"Lord Montagu! The tunnel is clear, sir," a deep voice came from within the tunnel, and Eevee felt her desperation mounting. Her friends, her _love_ , was so close! And yet she was moving away from them. Her struggling increased, her sense of propriety vanishing and panic fueled her actions. After the past several weeks of misery, the chance to be free and happy again was something she _could not_ let slip through her fingers.

"Please! Stop! Let me go with them!" she cried, and tears were stinging her eyes. Her struggles continued to escalate, and no matter how gentle Rowan was, she could feel his fingers starting to bruise as he gripped her tightly. In her desperation, she took a swing at his face.

She never got the chance to connect. Suddenly, another man was beside them, her small fist enclosed in his much larger hand. His other hand was suddenly at the back of her neck, and he waited only a fraction of a second, long enough for Rowan to give a sharp nod, before suddenly applying pressure to key points.

Her body went limp, her eyes drooping and then fluttering closed as her voice died away.

"Thank you, Adam," Rowan said, his voice betraying a touch a relief. He gazed down at his unconscious bride, then turned his eyes towards the door that they'd come through, his jaw tightening.

"It won't last long, sir. For a woman, she's rather strong-willed…we should get her to a more secure location as soon as possible," Adam spoke in a curt voice, following Rowan's gaze.

Rowan nodded, breaking eye contact with the door and gazing down dimly lit tunnel before them. "Yes, let's move. I will not let her be taken for me."

Adam gave a sharp nod, taking a step back and allowing the lord to stride past him, following closely on his heels.

Marines swarmed towards them. Raion scrambled to his feet and drew his swords just in time to deflect blows. He tucked and rolled towards the center of the room, behind him, Sabo fit together his seastone staff and jabbed it into pressure points of marines. Margherita had an amazing amount of knives and handguns stashed on her person. Titus and Zeke smashed through soldiers with their Fishman karate.

"Taka Nami!" Raion growled, slashing his swords, creating a gust of wind and knocking dozens of marines and guards down and back. They were in the middle of the grand foyer, surrounded with more marines slamming through the front door, "Titus! Zeke! Choke the entrance!"

The two Fishman moved with grace and destruction to the entrance of the mansion, where they stopped the soldiers from flooding into the building.

Raion cut through marines and guards left and right, dipping and dodging, his Haki on overload to not only predict and protect him, but his nakama and trying to locate Eevee. He could feel her presence. He tasted her emotions, her anxiety, her trepidation, her resistance. It drove him forward.

"We're going to the chapel!" Raion shouted turning his attention to Sabo and Margherita. They nodded; Sabo whirling around and shoving the end of his staff into the ribs of a marine before swiftly unclicking the top section of the weapon and jabbing it into the point in the crook of the shoulder of another guard. Margherita had two small handguns in her palms, firing off rounds while shifting seamlessly from her human form to her half form.

"Don't let the pirates escape!" one of the senior officers shouted, "Secure them in the foyer! Stand fast, marines!"

But the tables were turning. The five of them alone were more than the marines simply in this room could handle. With the twins keeping the rest from entering, Raion, Sabo and Margherita cleaned house and fled for the chapel, cutting down anyone who dared to stand in their way.

Panic suddenly clawed up the back of his throat and Raion froze. Eevee. She was panicking.

"Senchou!" Sabo shouted, turning around and disposing of a guard who almost planted the tip of his blade into Raion's throat, "Pay attention!"

He barely listened. Eevee was panicking. Where was she? Was she panicking because he was here or because she wasn't able to get to him?

Raion slashed and sliced, filled with new, fierce vigor as they stormed the halls and burst into the chapel.

They paused. Hundreds of terrified eyes and pale faces turned towards them. The guards were stationed to keep order. The place was beautifully decorated with all the priss and pomp that came with a noble wedding. White everything; white flowers, white aisle runner, white ribbons and streamers. A sudden memory of his childhood washed over him; Robin-oba reading him a story called Alice in Wonderland and he remembered the queen's men chanting _"_ _painting the roses red, we_ _'_ _re painting the roses red_ _…"_

Several women swooned. Men gasped and scrambled back into the pews. Guards drew their weapons. What a sight they must've made. Bleeding, sweaty, their once nice suits torn, Margherita's dress was hanging over one shoulder and slit up to her hip on the side and she was in her half form. Raion's old scar had burst open and blood was pouring down the left side of his face and his hands were coated from constantly wiping it out of his face. The knees of his dress pants were ripped and his exposed forearms were sliced up too. Sabo was most unscathed, too fast to be caught most of the time. Even still, his knees were torn and he's lost his suit jacket.

"Don't mean to intrude!" Sabo waved jauntily, "I'd say 'carry on', but we're sorta here to steal the bride back so… don't mind us!"

"You're a moron…" Margherita hissed.

Raion grabbed his head, daring to close his eyes for half a heartbeat. While he'd long since grown numb to the sound of voices snuffing out like candles in a hurricane during a fight, he felt Eevee's voice disappear. A moment ago, she'd been screaming in his head and now, it was eerily quiet. Her presence was still nearby.

He knew that feeling though. She'd been taken out of commission. Knocked out or something worse.

"We have to go," Raion said, "C'mon!" he raced down the aisle, leading Sabo and Margherita. The nobles screamed and squealed and backed away, shoving over each other in attempt to put as much distance between them and the pirates. He hardly paid them any mind.

Two big guards stepped in their path and Raion skidded to a halt, throwing his arm out to catch Sabo and Margherita.

"Montagu-sama has ordered us to stop you," one oaf said in a deep, even voice, "We must keep Lady Evelyn safe."

"I'll handle these asswipes, senchou," Margherita swept past Raion, her words lingering a little too long on her s's, "You two go ahead."

"You sure?" Raion gave her a wary look.

She waved her hand at them, "Please. I got this." and she shifted into her full form. Rarely did she have to in a battle but when she did, it was always a sight. She ate the hebi hebi no mi, model viper and while her half form was deceptively small, her full form was that of a giant yellow and blue viper. Sabo had once said the particular subspecies of viper she resembled most was a bush viper. Her scales stuck up in a sorta combed back way much like her hair did and her face morphed into this nearly triangular shape. Her party dress tore in half, the top part covering her breasts and the other remaining where her hips would have been. Even in her full form, she still had arms and shoulders to aid in her combat. In this form, she was an amazing 20 feet tall, easily.

Nobles screamed and panicked, fleeing to the edges of the chapel as Margherita whipped her tail and took out ten rows of pews on either side of her. Even the guards looked nervous, staring up at a snake woman as tall as the chapel ceiling.

"Don't get a stomach ache!" Sabo chuckled.

"We'll pick you up on our way back through," Raion assured her.

"Just get Eevee and don't be a douche about it!" Margherita hissed.

Raion and Sabo maneuvered around the guards and entered an antechamber. Raion glanced around. There wasn't much to look at here and it was a dead end. No rooms exited and just as he was thinking there must be some secret passageway, his boots slammed hollowly against the floor. He backed off and yanked open a trap door that led to a lit staircase and tunnel leading underground.

"Sweet…" he breathed, "Let's go! She's down here… I can feel a room this tunnel leads out to." he jogged down the stairs.

"Probably one of the external buildings we saw on the property," Sabo kept pace behind him, "Centuries ago, architects would build these underground tunnels to connect servant quarters to the main house. They were also used for escape routes in big castles, though, I doubt this is one. This property isn't nearly large enough nor old enough."

They reached the end staircase and their long legs ate up the stairs three at a time before they burst through the door at the top. They were in a small shed and Raion didn't waste any time looking around before he slammed through the door that led to the outside. Indeed, they were at a different point on the property, behind the main house and nearer the water. The water… ahead, he could see people running, heading to the small, personal dock that was built along the rocky coast that hosted a skiff. One person was a tall, lithe man carrying a heap of white over his shoulder.

A heap of white with tumbles of auburn hair…

"THAT'S THEM!" Raion shouted. He and Sabo took off running, "We have to catch them before-" something tickled his mind and he dive-bombed Sabo as a laser shot into the ground where they'd been a second ago. They tumbled a few feet, scraping their hands and faces before jumping up. Marines and a Pacifista were heading their way.

"Sabo," the Pacifista announced in its robotic, monotonous voice, "Surname: unknown. Bounty: 250 million beris. Occupation: Black Mamba Pirate. Operative: Kill on sight."

"Well, shit," Sabo sighed. He yanked his kairoseki gloves on a little tighter, "I haven't fought one of these in a while…"

"Monkey D. Raion," the Pacifista continued, "Bounty: 310 million beris. Occupation: Black Mamba Captain. Operative: Kill on sight."

"Go get Eevee," Sabo grinned, "I'll cover you."

Raion glanced at the robots and approaching marines then back to Eevee then back to Sabo. Priorities warred. He had to get Eevee before Lord Douche-Face took her on the skiff and god only knew where. On the other hand, he couldn't just leave Sabo to face down the army that was headed towards them, alone.

"Go!" Sabo exclaimed, "I got this!"

"Don't be a hero!" Raion said, backing up a few steps, "I promised Dahlia I'd bring you back and it better not be in a wooden box!"

Sabo spun his staff expertly, "You shouldn't make promises you can't keep, senchou."

"Don't say shit like that!"

The vice captain laughed, "It's cool! Go!"

Raion turned and booked it for the docks. Behind him, he could hear the Pacifista charging its lasers and the marines calling orders. He knew his best friend was more than capable and he trusted him, it was just… Raion was incredibly protective of Sabo. Always had been.

But if he didn't go after Eevee now, in a few minutes, he could lose her for possibly forever.

He was ten feet away from Montagu and his three guards when the guards turned around and everyone just sorta stopped. His heart was beating rapidly, his lungs heaving. He swiped the blood out of his eyes and leveled his swords so that they were pointing at the nobleman's back, "Stop. Right. There," he growled.

"I have to say, I'm quite impressed," Montagu turned around and Raion's expression dropped. Just as he'd feared, she was unconscious, draped over the man's shoulder like a rag doll. Fury blazed through his blood and his grip on the hilts of his weapons tightened, "It seems I've gotten into a habit of underestimating people these days."

"What…" Raion snarled, "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?" inside, he was shaking, even as his hands were rock steady.

Montagu chuckled, but the sound didn't reach his eyes, "I assure you, she's quite unharmed except for a few self-inflicted injuries. She'll come to soon, I'd imagine. We'll be long gone from here then, however."

"Give her to me. NOW." Raion demanded.

Montagu tipped his chin at the three guards and they lumbered towards Raion, drawing guns and aiming right for his skull, "I don't mind taking a 30 percent cut from the marines for your bounty, personally," the noble drawled, "Money is really not the prize here anyway."

He supposed that the men must've been skilled fighters, but they posed little object to Raion. His torso twitched and contorted to dodge their bullets effortless and drew his swords. He barely took his eyes off Eevee, off the way she hung limply in that bundle of silk wedding gown that he was certain she must've been breathtaking in. She was so close

"Niitoryu Iai…" he whispered, darting past the guards in a quick burst of speed, "Rashomon…" he sheathed the swords and as they clicked back into place, blood exploded from the guards' chests, slashed multiple times and one by one, they fell hard, unconscious and not about to get up any time soon.

He leveled his eyes at Montagu, dark gray of thunderstorms, "I'll ask again," he said, "Give her to me. Right. Now."

A ghost of a smile slid over Rowan's face, and his gaze flickered past Raion to see Sabo engaging the pacifistas and marines. Already, one pacifista had been disabled, and the blond man was whirling around at speeds that were difficult to follow with the naked eye.

A sigh came from Rowan, and he turned his eyes back to Raion, studying the sheer determination on the man's face. "You look like a man who will do anything to get Evelyn back…" he mused, his voice unhurried, calm. He shifted his hold on Evelyn, cradling her in his arms now. "I suppose I have no choice but to face you myself then. I have already decided that she is the perfect wife for me, and I do not lose my possessions," Rowan told him with a small smirk. He turned on his heel, a walked three paces back before gently setting Evelyn down on the ground. Her dress pooled around her like a silken pool of whiteness, making her look like a sleeping angel, with her veil covering her face.

Rowen slowly shrugged out of his tuxedo jacket, and laid it over her like a blanket. "The fact that you let her go or somehow lost her in the first place only confirms my belief that she is better suited with me," Rowen continued as he slowly got to his feet and turned back to Raion. He smiled, almost patiently, at the Dark Prince as started walking towards him. "Could you really provide her with the same happiness, and commitment, that I could? If you truly love this woman, and I suspect you do…more than just as nakama, from the way you are growling at me…don't you agree that you should leave her with me. She will have a far better life," As he walked, Rowan reached into the pockets of his black pants, and withdrew gloves that glinted in the light. Slowly, he pulled them on, first on his right hand, then his left.

There were metal gloves, with spiked knuckles that were plated with gold. He flexed his hands when both were securely in place, then stopped his approach, only four feet from Raion. The smile on his face was calm and self-assured, and he was relaxed as he studied Raion's harsh face, tracing the blood that dripped down his forehead. His smile broadened, and he shrugged his shoulders. "A lady like Evelyn deserves the best, after all," he added, his voice a deep purr.

Then, suddenly, his body exploded into motion, and Rowen lunged forward, both of his hands coming up. He moved like a fighter, not a noble, and grabbed one of Raion's swords directly by the blade, the metal glove sparking at the intensity of the contact. He swung at Raion's face with the other hand, shoot upward from a suddenly low stance and aiming for Raion's jaw.

Holy shit, this guy could move. Was he really a noble?

Raion didn't take time to consider him much further than this as those spiked gloves came barreling towards his face. He arched his body back, flipped his hand around and back slashed at Montagu with his free sword. The noble leapt back with more dexterity than was expected for someone of his rank. Clearly, he'd had some formal training.

Unfortunately for him, though, Raion had a whole lot of field experience.

"You talk about her like she's some god damned prize to be won!" he snarled, "She's a person, for crissake, not a wild animal. I can give her _real_ freedom, not the illusion of freedom. A cage is still a cage, no matter what it looks like on the inside," they parried, those metal gloves scraping and sparking against his swords, "And what I have personally invested in Eevee is none of your fucking _business!_ " he planted his boot against Montagu's sternum and shoved hard, sending the noble flying backwards.

The man rose to his feet again and delicately touched his lip where it was bleeding slightly, "What is freedom anyway? Having whatever you desire? Certainly I have enough means to provide her with everything under the sun. She could sail the ocean, under the safety and security of my personal guard, go wherever she please, as my lady," he came at Raion in a barrage of punches, right hook, left uppercut, right straight. Raion ducked and dodged, his swords sheathed for the moment as he fought hand to hand.

"She doesn't want to be a lady!" the captain replied, putting Montagu on the defense, "She wants to be a pirate!"

"She doesn't know what she wants," the noble replied coolly, "Or what's best for her. She is still so young. She needs someone to help her understand what is best for her."

"Oh, and that's you then?" Raion spat sarcastically.

"Perhaps a better fit than a pirate prince who lives by his whim and fancy and has little purpose in life."

"I have a purpose!" Raion exclaimed fiercely, " _She_ is my purpose," he pointed to Eevee, " _He_ is my purpose," he gestured back to Sabo, working on disabling his second Pacifista, "And we're _pirates!_ We do what we want, when we want, no goals, no agendas. _That_ is freedom."

They had circled each other enough so that Raion's back was to Eevee. Behind Montagu's shoulder, he could see his best friend flitting in and out of marine ranks like a machine. But even Sabo's unyielding energy was starting to fade. It was evident in the way he was fighting; attacking, then moving swiftly into position of relative safety. He was getting worn out. Two deadly robotic machines and hundreds of marines were his limit, apparently.

Those few precious seconds that he wasn't immediately focused on Montagu was his bane, however. He vastly underestimate the noble man, simply for the fact that he was a noble. Montagu was in his space in the span of a heartbeat and hit Raion with a fierce uppercut that sent him reeling back. He saw stars for a moment and as he was blinking them away, the noble was advancing on him. Raion flipped his head over his shoulder to see approximately where Eevee was so that he didn't crush her underfoot and again, a punch to the solar plexus. His diaphragm spasmed and he dropped to one knee, spitting blood.

"Hurts, does it not?" Montagu flexed his hands and the gloves clinked slightly, "These gloves were specially crafted for me, made of the hardest metal, plated with soft gold. Doesn't hurt right away, but then the pain gets you after a heartbeat." he kicked Raion in the face and the Dark Prince landed on the ground, feet from Eevee and her beautiful gown. His vision was swimming; he could feel the pain in his body, but he hadn't quite registered how badly in hurt just yet.

He pushed himself up with his arms and the noble grabbed him by the front of his button down and hauled him up, "Does it kill you, Dark Prince, that I have taken your lady and I will have her as mine, mind, soul and body?"

Raion spat blood in his face, "I already have her, mind, soul and body…" he growled back, "And lucky me, it's fucking mutual and three's a crowd, so bugger off."

The sound of metal scraping on metal woke Eevee, and she stirred, the bright sun creating a red blaze through her eyelids. Her body felt like lead and her mind was working slowly, as if pushing through layers of thick tar. Her head pounded, and she winced as she opened her eyes. Her gloved hand came up to block the light from the sun, and seeing the white silk was an instant reminder of that fact that today was her wedding day.

And it was being crashed by pirates.

 _Her_ pirates.

Rowen or his men must have knocked her out. Grunting and the high screech of metal meeting metal drew her attention, and someone nearby exclaimed emphatically "I have a purpose!" It was Raion's voice, and Eevee felt her breath still in her lungs at the sound of it. For a moment, she couldn't move, her whole body overwhelmed by the rush of relief the sound of his voice brought to her. It was like she'd been freezing for weeks and the sound of his voice was like warm water being poured over her.

Then she remembered the last time she'd seen him, his lips fused with another woman's, and her chest constricted so painfully she couldn't breathe for a second. She hadn't thought about that moment since she'd left them, unable to handle picturing it without the pain that accompanied it. Not only pain…but also anger. As much as she tried to tell herself that it was her own fault for falling in love with the man, she blamed him, too, for making her dream so wonderful and then taking it away from her in a single act of sex with another woman. For weeks, whenever she'd thought about him, and she'd tried not to, a single thought had surfaced several times, despite her attempts to block it out: how _dare_ he ruining the dream she'd yearned for all her life with something as silly as that. How _dare_ he bring her onto a crew of amazing people whom she'd come to love, then make living on the same ship as them unbearable, because of _him_. Even if he hadn't intended for it to turn out that way…A part of her still blamed him, almost _hated_ him for it…if it was possible for her to hate a man she loved. And perhaps that was the worst part…she was still in love with him, and, frankly, it sucked.

The joy she'd felt at the knowledge that the Black Mamba Pirate's were here became tempered by this, by the reminder that she was no longer a member of their crew.

So then…why were they _here?_

"Hurts, does it not?"

For a second, her mind thought maybe those words were meant for her, for the pain and anger swirling in her chest, but that couldn't be. It wasn't Raion's voice, either, it was smooth, sophisticated, and self assured, yet not cruel, despite the words being spoke: Rowan's voice. It took only a second for her to process what must be happening, and the energy she needed rushed through her. She pushed herself up into a seated position. A tuxedo jacket slid off of her, and she glanced down at it before focusing her eyes on the scene before her; what she saw made her gasp as what little color remained left her face.

Rowan had Raion by the throat, gripping the pirate's shirtfront with a hand covered in shinning gold. Blood was everywhere, and Raion was glaring fiercely up at Rowan. It was such a shocking sight, to see the Pirate Prince at the mercy of a noble. He growled something too low for her to hear over the din happening several yards away. Her gaze jumped past the two men briefly, and in the distance, she could see heaps of marines and a pacifista, effectively being detained by a single, blond-haired figure who was moving in spurts of blinding speeds, staff twirling around expertly. _Sabo_.

"I don't think I heard the Lady Evelyn mention you by name even once, actually, and—" Rowan was saying, calmly ignoring the blood on his face as he lifted his free hand in preparation to deliver a punishing blow to Raion's face. He stopped, though, when his eyes flickered over Raion's head, and spotted Eevee, sitting up and staring at them with wide eyes. "Evelyn, my dear…you're awake," he announced, then, looking back at Raion, his fist blurred as he struck Raion in the face, releasing the pirate as his body was propelled, with force, down to the ground. Rowan straightened, reaching up a gloved hand to brush blood from his cheek. "I've just about finished, then I can get you to a safe place," he added to her with an assuring smile.

Eevee gasped as she saw Raion go down. Any anger she harbored towards him for flaunting his dalliances with another woman in front of her was temporarily forgotten as her love rushed to the forefront. "Raion!" she cried, lunging towards him. The wedding dress, corseted so tightly and with yards of silk and chiffon for the skirt, made maneuvering extremely difficult. She couldn't reach him before Rowan's body was suddenly standing between them, his back to her as if he was protecting her from Raion. "You wouldn't want to get blood on that lovely gown, Evelyn. The pirate is done for; it's time to get to the ship," Rowan told her without taking his eyes off of Raion, his hands poised like a predator waiting for his prey.

She realized, in that moment, that it didn't matter how she felt about Raion, or the reason for the Black Mamba's appearance at her wedding when she was no longer nakama; they were her best chance at freedom, and she believed that they could get her free. Despite what she was seeing, despite the seemingly overwhelming odds and Raion's current condition, a fierce knowledge burned in her chest: the Black Mamba's were capable of the impossible, and they _would_ make it through this.

She may not be a member of the crew anymore, but she was still a pirate in her heart, and she would not concede without a fight. With this determination, Eevee pushed herself to her feet. "Raion, _get up_ and _fight_ ," she practically growled at him as she lifted a heeled foot, and kicked it forward and into the back of Rowan's knee. The man wasn't expecting it, and went down to his knees like a stone, a hiss of pain escaping his lips as the heel dug into his flesh. "Then get me the _hell out of this place,_ " she added, a note of satisfaction in her tone of voice as she glared down at Rowen.

When Montagu's eyes flickered over his shoulder, Raion felt like someone was squeezing his heart up into his lungs. He turned his head to glance at her, but then the noble slugged him hard in the face. It sounded like a loud clap went off in his head and he could feel the grass under his body suddenly, but when he opened his eyes, there was nothing there. He blinked rapidly, a tinny ringing in his ears.

That fucker knocked him out. He wasn't unconscious, but if he didn't have the adrenaline pumping through him like he did, he probably would have been.

He couldn't give in, though. This wasn't his first fight, nor would it be his last and it certainly wasn't his hardest. He pushed himself onto his hands and knees and spat blood onto the grass as his vision started to return. Blood poured from his head, from his mouth and one eye was red in the white part from a bursted vessel.

He had to get her out of here. If he failed… no, failure wasn't an option. Too many lives were at stake. He was the captain. He was in charge of the wellbeing of his nakama.

"Get up and fight!" Eevee's voice practically shouted at him, "And get me the hell out of this place."

 _Get me the hell out of this place._

He turned his head to the side to see her lash out with one of her heels, kicking Montagu right in the back of the knee. The nobleman fell and Raion knew his opportunity when he was presented with it. Raion lurched to his feet and linebacked Montagu, the two of them tumbling across the grass, away from Eevee. Raion was up first, dodging punches from those hellish gloves and hauled the man up by the front of his shirt, only to slam him bodily back down into the ground. Montagu coughed up blood and his hesitation in getting to his feet was his downfall.

Raion parked his ass right on top of the nobleman's chest and wrapped his hands around his throat.

"Tell me, doctor," he panted in a low growl, "How many pounds of pressure does it take to collapse a human's trachea?"

He had to admit, there was something incredibly sickeningly satisfying about watching the man claw and grapple at Raion's hands to no avail and his face turn all sorts of lovely shades.

Raion's tackle took both men tumbling away from her, and Eevee gripped the material of her skirt as she watched them grapple. Her eyes flickered over to where Sabo was fighting, and even she could see that he was starting to flag bad, spending longer and longer immobile as he fought to catch his breathe. Their time was running out.

She turned back to the scene, and strode towards the pair, hoping perhaps to help Raion in some way in ending the battle quicker. As she got close, though, Raion's voice reached her ears in a low growl, asking her the weight required to crush a human trachea. She came around to the side, and saw, her eyes widened in horror, that Raion had his hands wrapped tightly around Rowen's throat, and Rowan was starting to turn a shade of blue as his body was deprived of oxygen.

"Raion, stop!" she shouted, lurching forward and reaching for Raion's hand. The pirate continued to strangle Rowen, and Eevee felt her chest tightening in fear. As much as she wanted to escape from Rowen and the rest of nobility, she did not want the man dead. He may have been bent on keeping her as his wife, but he was a fair man, and he didn't deserve to die. As she watched, Rowen's eyes slid back into his skull, and he lost consciousness. He would die soon if Raion didn't let him go. "I said stop! Don't you dare kill him!" Eevee cried, and thrust her face in front of Raion's as her fingers tugged insistently at Raion's wrists. Her violet eyes blazed her conviction, and her fine auburn brows were furrowed in a scowl.

Her face, blocking Raion's sight of Rowen's dying face, seemed to snap him out of the killing haze he had entered, and abruptly, he released the man's throat. She hurriedly turned to the nobleman and felt around his mottled neck for his pulse. She was utterly still as she waited, dread making her stomach tighten. Finally, she felt the small flicker of life in his vein, weak but definitely present, and the tension left her shoulders as she let out a breath of relief. "Thank goodness…" she murmured, and her eyes flickered to Raion. "Thank you…for coming to get me. And thank you, for letting him live. He didn't deserve to die…" she told him in a quiet breath.

It was the first time since his arrival that it felt like, truly, just the two of them. Rowen was out cold, and the fighting in the distance seemed to fade away as all of her awareness focused on the man that she'd fallen in love with. Even the harshness of his features and the brutality with which he was about to kill Rowen faded, and all she wanted to do was stare at him, touch him.…kiss him. Because it was him, because she loved him, the moment felt horribly intimate for some reason, and she couldn't bear that. The impulse, the intimacy, brought a rush of anger on its heels because she _couldn't_ do any of those things, could barely look at him without her heart clenching in pain, without remembering that her dream had fallen to pieces around her feelings for him.

Her gaze slid away from him, and she reached forward to grasp the hilt of one of his blades. Without even asking, she drew the katana and stood, moving several steps away from him. Without a word, she pulled the skirt of her lovely gown up, and sliced through the material with a quick flick of her wrist. Thought it killed her to ruin such a fine dress, she knew that it hampered her movements severely, and that could mean the difference between life or death, escape or captivity. The blade was sharp, and it was a matter of seconds before her floor-sweeping wedding gown was turned into a short dress, shorn away at mid-thigh.

As the yards of silk and chiffon fell to the ground around her like wisps of silken clouds falling from the sky, she strode back over towards Raion and held out the katana for him to take. She made sure that their fingers didn't brush as the blade was returned. Then, she kicked off her heels, wearing only the sheer stockings, and hurriedly walked around to Rowen's feet, removing the concealed dagger she'd knew to be there and held it up in her first, and turned towards the battle raging several yards away. "Hurry, we have to go help Sabo. He won't last much longer by himself. We need to get out of here as soon as possible," she told Raion over her shoulder in a curt, urgent voice. Without looking back or waiting for an answer, she started running towards the battle.

She cut through his blood rage like a cool spring rain and he sorta listed to the side of Montagu's unconscious body and sat hard on the ground, panting and bleeding, for quite a few minutes. It was over, or at least, this part was over. She was right here in front of him; no more objects of great importance to separate them. She was here, right within his grasp, muttering quiet thank yous. He could reach out and touch her, pull her into his arms and apologize to her, run his fingers through her hair, tap under her chin, kiss her mouth…

She took one his swords and sliced apart her beautiful dress and he did nothing. And the silence stretched thin between them. He felt her tense up and close off. She was mad at him. Of course she was. He was the scum of the earth and he'd just rescued her from a hellish wedding but it didn't matter that it was him, necessarily. Just that _someone_ came for her.

His eyes followed the yards and yards of silk and lace as she sliced the dress down to a short flapper-girl style and kicked off her shoes. He was so caught up in the moment that he couldn't even appreciate the look; with her mused hairstyle, slightly smeared makeup, barefoot, dagger in hand, ready to rock and roll. She was a pirate princess and he wanted her so badly to just _look_ his way with those purple eyes and smile that he couldn't think about how beautiful she was.

The crunching sound of metal behind him jerked him around and Eevee jumped to her feet, demanding they help Sabo. Her tone startled him, so clipped and urgent. Cold. Clinical. She raced across the field and Raion found himself reaching his hand out as if to snatch her back, then he fisted his hand and jumped to his feet.

She was right, of course. Sabo needed him. He had to focus.

He raced after her, his longer legs closing the distance faster and he was suddenly in front of her, his swords slashing through marines that stupidly thought to head him off. He didn't spare a second wasting them.

Sabo saw him and fled the horde of guards and marines that were headed their direction.

"Holy shit!" the vice-captain grinned, "Lookit you! All bleeding and shit!"

The blonde was in pretty rough shape for a kid that didn't get many points scored on him. Half his face was covered in a nasty bruise and blood was smeared across his jaw and down his neck. His tie was gone and so were his shoes in favor for bare feet. His knuckles and forearms were littered in defensive bruises and cuts. And he was breathing pretty hard.

Raion grabbed his shoulder with one hand and laid his other hand on the back of Sabo's head, "You alright?" he asked seriously.

"Ya, sure, I'm fine. Wasted two pacifistas and about 300 marines and guards. I think I've hit a new high score!" Sabo's blue eyes flitted over Raion's busted up face, "That noble give you any trouble?"

"No way. Couple of lucky shots, that's all," he surveyed the marines crossing the property, easily another five hundred, "Where the fuck are they coming from, honestly?" he muttered, "We gotta get outta here…"

Sabo nodded and grinned, then glanced over Raion's shoulder, "Hey! Eevee!" he exclaimed, bounding over to her and scooping her up into a hug. He spun her around then placed her back on her feet, "Sorry for crashing your wedding!"

The captain tried so hard not to seethe a little on the inside that his best friend had gotten more action out of his girl than he had. There wasn't time for that kind of insecurity. Raion drew his blades again, "Look, you two go get Margherita and the twins and rendezvous at the front entrance. I'll clear this lot out," he nodded his head towards the marines and guards.

Sabo's eyes widened, "Dude, that's like, five hundred people…" he hedged.

"Go. I'll take care of it."

The vice captain took deep breath, then nodded, "Don't be a hero," he said, echoing Raion's own warning earlier.

Raion snorted, "I'm a pirate, not a hero," and he glanced at Eevee one more time before turning his attention towards the crowd.

As Raion turned his back to them to face the encroaching marines, Eevee felt her heart tighten in trepidation at letting him face all of those soldiers by himself. It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him to come with them, that they would fight their way out together, but Sabo grabbed her hand and was already tugging her towards the mansion. "Come on, Eevee. He'll make sure we have a way out once we get Margherita, Zeke, and Titus. Many of the marines are inside, and clearing a path outside is our best means of escape. If they surround us while we're inside, we're toast," he spoke urgently as he tugged her along after him. Despite his assurance, though, she saw him glance past her and back to his captain with a barely concealed worry in his eyes.

Eevee followed his gaze, and seeing him, standing alone as the wave of marines rushed towards him, made her breath freeze in her lungs with fear for his well-being. Sabo's words made sense, but letting Raion out of her sight against such odds, after finally seeing him again, was even worse than the hurt of seeing his face after what he did with that other woman.

Marble replaced her sight, and she turned her head back to find that Sabo had directed them back into the mansion. He glanced at her, saw her pale features, and gave her hand a squeeze as he offered a reassuring smile to her, "Don't worry, Eevee…he's going to be fine. Let's get the others and get outta this place, okay?"

Eevee took a breath and nodded, focusing her eyes forward. Several marines were running towards them, and Sabo put on a burst of speed and lept into the air when he was five feet from them. He twirled his staff over his head, then brought it down with a shout. It took out two of the soldiers immediately, and the added momentum of his falling body added enough force to the staff that when it struck the marble floor, the marble exploded, showering the nearby marines with shards of marble and taking out two more soldiers. Sabo, also, took a hit from that as a shard of marble came flying towards his face. He managed to turn his head, but the stone grazed his temple, and by the time Eevee caught up with him, blood was pouring down the side of his face.

"Sabo!" she exclaimed, her hand going up towards his face, but he shook his head fiercely and grabbed her hand instead, and started tugging her along once more, his staff twirling out and keeping the remaining marines at a distance. "No time, we gotta keep moving," he insisted as he pushed forward, lashing out whenever an enemy came in range.

They continue in that fashion, with Sabo taking the lead and Eevee watching their back. They found Titus and Zeke first, both fishmen having sustained heavy injuries but still fighting with enough power and brute strength that several marines had backed out of range of their lashing arms and legs by the time Eevee and Sabo reached them. Both of them grinned upon seeing Eevee, and she felt the prickle of tears in her eyes. Everyone was fighting for her, fighting to free her from a future they knew she didn't want. They weren't even her nakama anymore, and still they were here, and they looked so happy to see her…it broke her heart. How had she ever managed to leave them?

"Margherita is still in the chapel. We better hurry; she's going to take the whole building down soon if someone doesn't stop her rampage," Titus said in a deep voice as he dropped down into a low stance, then shot his foot out behind him and caught a marine square in the knee. Eevee could hear the audible sound of the joint being crushed, and winced in sympathy for the marine as the man went down with a scream of pain.

The area just outside of the chapel contained the most marines, and their pace slowed as they fought to reach the doors. She'd taken two men out with her meager dagger with Zeke suddenly appeared next to her, holding up another dagger that she accepted gratefully. Fighting two-handed, she slashed and shanked at vital points as she fought alongside the people she'd come to love as her family.

"Margherita!" she cried when a giant snake came into view. The viper head whipped around towards her, and a forked tongue flickered out as the woman scented the air. Though snakes could not smile, Eevee could see the glee and happiness in her glowing yellow eyes.

"We gotta get outta here. Retreat to the door!" Sabo called from just outside the doorway, swinging his staff up and catching a woman below the jaw in a swift jab that knocked her out immediately. The marine fell to the ground, and he advanced, working to create a path that would bring their group and Margherita together. Inside the chapel, the large snake's head gave a sharp nod, and her tail lashed out and bowled several marines over.

By the time Margherita made it to the door, Eevee was panting heavily, but out of everyone, she had no wounds. When faced with her, the marines would see her face, register that she was actually the _bride_ , and baulked at attacking her, which left her the opening to disable them. "Eevee!" Margherita shouted as the snake suddenly shrunk and returned to her half human, half snake form. Her upper body was that of a woman, but her torso and legs were replaced by the sinuous body of a viper. She shot towards Eevee, and both woman embraced each other. Despite her best efforts, a tear tracked down her face and she squeezed her eyes shut to prevent any more from falling. "I missed you guys so much," Eevee said in a thick voice, speaking to all of them. Zeke, Titus, and Sabo had formed a sort of ring around Margherita and Eevee as they embraced, and the men glanced over their shoulders at Eevee with grins on their faces in response to her words.

Margherita gripped Eevee's shoulders and pushed her back, staring hard at her face. "We missed you too! Well, did he apologize?"

Eevee frowned, "Who?" she asked, confused at the sudden change in topic.

"Margherita," Titus said in a sharp voice, and gave a quick shake of his head with a frown when Margherita glanced over at the fishman.

"Did who apologize?" Eevee asked again, in a more urgent voice. Did she mean Raion? Apologize to her? Apologize for what, specifically? What did that mean? Despite the fact that they were surrounded by enemies and all but her heavily wounded, Eevee's heart felt like it was imperative that she know the answers to these questions. "Margherita?" she insisted, but the snake woman shook her head with an annoyed huff in Titus's direction, and grabbed her hand instead.

"Never mind, _later,_ " she told Eevee with a jerk at her head in the direction of the entrance. "We gotta get out of here first, remember?"

"Let's GO!" Sabo demanded in a shout, his voice taking on the pitch of authority that he rarely used, even as First Mate. "The marines could send even more reinforcements and we want to be ghosts by then."

Eevee nodded, closing her mind off to the what if's that Margherita's seemingly harmless question had arisen. Together, the pirates began hacking their way towards the entrance.

"They're trying to escape!"

"Send reinforcements to the front entrance! The pirates are trying to get out the front!"

It was such an unusual move, for pirates to try and leave through the main entrance, that the marines were unprepared for such an obvious tactic. They had figured on the pirates trying to sneak out the back that, amazingly, the bulk of their force wasn't where it needed to be as Eevee, Sabo, Titus, Zeke, and Margherita pushed forward.

"Tell the forces outside to move to the front! Block them from escaping!" a marine officer shouted as the door came in sight. They were so close! Having freedom so close gave Eevee the extra energy she needed as they battled for the door.

"Sir! Sir!" A marine called urgently from the other side of the door. "…the marines outside…"

Sabo and Eevee's head's shot up, and they shared a brief glance with each other as they knocked down the last of the marines between them and the door. Was Raion…?

Zeke and Titus hit the doors at the same time, and the wood exploded off their hinges and the pirates spilled out.

"…have all been taken out!" the marine finished, scrambling back frantically as Zeke and Titus came within striking range. The sight that met them had all five of the pirates skidding to a halt in shock.

Standing in the middle of the vast yard in front of the mansion, surrounded by hundreds of prone bodies, was one man. Two swords glinted in his hands, and his body was hunched over from exhaustion. At the sound of their arrival, he lifted his head, and Raion's face was almost indistinguishable through all of the blood and his mess of black hair.

Eevee stared, eyes wide, completely immobilized by the sight. "Raion…" she whispered, awed that he'd taken out all of those enemies by himself. The sight was breathtaking, and he looked so damned _handsome_ , even with the blood and sweat, that her chest hurt just looking at him. More powerful than ever before, she wanted him as _hers_. She wanted to believe that he'd fought all of these enemies for _her,_ and _her_ alone, in a way that had nothing to do with nakama.

But she knew better now, knew that Raion wasn't a one-woman man. Biting her lip, Eevee tore her eyes away from him, and followed as Sabo, Margherita, Titus, and Zeke started sprinting towards their captain.

Raion turned to watch for only half a heartbeat as Sabo dragged Eevee away and back into the mansion. Then, he took a deep breath and focused himself on the swarm of marines and guards heading his way. He twirled his swords in his hands and then raced into the fray.

He was frustrated. He was frustrated with himself that the reason Eevee was so clipped and clinical with him was because of his own stupidity. He let her go, he came to save her and he had driven himself mad for the last couple of weeks, missing her so badly it hurt. He'd sorta imagined that he'd save her and have a chance to apologize to her right away.

This icy response was a far cry from what he envisioned and it was fucking aggravating.

The marines suffered for his frustration. He ripped through them like a tornado of hell, executing his best niitoryu moves, some of them classically Zoro-oji and some of them moves he invented himself. He dodged and spun, slashing and slicing, all three forms of Haki at his disposal. Men collapsed from his presence before they even got within his sword range and those that stayed conscious taste his steel.

It was the Pacifistas that gave him the hardest run. He jerked his body around, lasers missing the vital points of his body, slicing his skin. He crossed his swords and slashed, the wind so sharp it cut through the heavy armored body. He jumped, twisting his body around until he landed on the shoulders of the huge machine and drove his swords into the back of its neck, yanking wires out. With a thrum, the Pacfista was disabled and he moved onto the next one.

At this point, marines started treating him with more hesitation, even attempting to retreat. He wasn't having that, not today. He spun, creating a whirlwind with his blades, a modified, two-sword version of Zoro's Dragon Twister. It sucked up a hundred marines and tossed their asses back, cut in dozens of places and unconscious before they hit the ground.

What was he supposed to say to her now? Would she even get back on the ship with them or would she try to go somewhere else now that she was free? He wouldn't let her go again. He do anything he had to, toss her over his shoulder, drop to his knees and beg, whatever it took.

And suddenly, the last group of enemies fell and Raion was facing an empty yard or fallen soldiers. It was eerily silent, filled with only the sounds of the dying and injured. Five hundred marines and three Pacifistas, done for.

That had to be a new record.

He glanced around, his body tense, waiting. Behind him, he could hear the shouts and screams of people retreating, the mansion's inner defenses crumbling thanks to his nakama. Exhaustion hit him hard and Raion braced his hands against his knees, panting. Blood dripped from his face in a steady patter to the grass below him and he tried to wipe it away and out of his eyes. His hands were bleeding just as badly though, so it was in vain. His muscles were protesting the act of standing, but he refused to fall. Taking deep breaths were uncomfortable and he wondered idly if he had fractured ribs.

The doors to the estate burst open and he glanced over his shoulder as his five nakama stopped dead and their faces betrayed their shock. He'd just decimated nearly half a legion of marines between the beginning of this raid to this moment right now.

Sabo let out a whoop and was the first one to make it to him as the group sprinted across the lawn, picking their way around the fallen soldiers, "This!" he glanced around, his blue eyes bright, "This is EPIC! I can't believe you right now!"

Raion stood straight, wincing as his body protested. He sheathed his swords, "I think the marines might leave us alone for a while…" he muttered, glancing at the wreckage.

"Three Pacifistas!" Margherita shouted, "Oh MAN! Can we take one home, senchou? PLEASE?" she was practically quivering with excitement.

Raion shrugged, "Take whatever you can carry. Let's ghost before reinforcements arrive from neighboring headquarters. The Fleet Admiral's gonna be pissed."

His eyes lingered on Eevee for a moment. Now wasn't the time for apologies, not in front of everyone. He was terrible with words to begin with; trying to stammer through them with an audience wasn't something he wanted to do.

The escape from the Burbank Estate took some time, as more reinforcements were arriving from other parts of Sabaody. Rather than fight, though, they concealed themselves whenever possible, moving from shadow to shadow across the wealthy grove. Despite the remaining danger, though, Eevee felt like she weighed twenty pounds lighter and felt like she could have run for days; she was free. After weeks of being cooped up in mansions and stuck with little or nothing to do, she was finally free to return to the ocean.

However, as the danger waned and they got closer and closer to where the Hebi-go was hiding, Eevee started worrying more and more about _where_ she was going to go. She found out from Margherita that the Golden Hawk Pirates had all survived the bounty hunters' raid on the ship, and that, with repairs made by Titus, they were back on the open ocean. Eevee was relieved to hear that they were safe, and she wondered if she was going to be able to find them again. After all, she was technically still a part of their crew…

Surrounded by the pirates that she'd come to love, though, this thought only made her heart feel tight. If she was honest with herself, she knew she wanted to be back with them, sharing adventures with _them_. But…Her eyes flickered to Raion, and the image of him bending that woman over in a kiss burned in her mind. She looked away, her fingers clenching a little at her sides as they ran.

Could she find a way to ignore her feelings? Could she train herself to think of Raion as a captain, rather than the man who'd shown her passion and heat? The idea seemed like such an impossible feat, especially with how powerfully she was reacting to just his presence. Wouldn't she just grow to resent him more and more, each time she watched him take a woman to bed?

"There it is," Sabo announced as they came around the corner in one of the seedier groves of Saobody. In the distance, she could see the Hebi-go, though the jolly roger had been taken down. On the deck were several people that Eevee didn't know. As they got closer, though, Sabo let out a whistle, and the men, clearly pirates, leapt off the deck and waited on the edge of the grove as the Black Mamba Pirates and Eevee came upon them.

"Thank you for watching her," Titus said in his deep voice, his eyes roaming over the ship with affection as they all stopped to catch their breath.

"We should push off as soon as possible," Sabo added, his eyes lingering in the direction they'd come, as if marines were about to start pouring in from the woodworks. Which was definitely possible, Eevee thought nervously.

"We'll delay the marines as much as possible," one of the men who'd guarded the ship supplied with a grin, swinging his long sword up and resting the sheathed blade over his shoulder.

Even though she didn't want to, even though it felt _wrong_ to say, Eevee opened her mouth and forced herself to ask, "After we're clear from Sabaody and the marines…will you help me find the Golden Hawk Pirates…?" Her voice, even to herself, sounded somewhat reluctant, and she couldn't look at Raion, her chest feeling tight.

A silence met her words, and she noticed everyone glancing at each other, faces grim. Almost everyone glanced at Raion, and Margherita was flat out staring at the captain, her eyes narrowed and her brows raised, almost expectantly.

Insecurity and unabridged nervousness flooded his system when they finally reached the Hebi-Go and Eevee asked that damning question:

" _Will you help me find the Golden Hawk Pirates?_ _"_

Every. Single. Member of his crew turned and glanced at him; Margherita full on staring with pursed lips and raised eyebrows like she'd kick the shit out of him regardless of his answer. He felt the blood rush to his face, tinting his ears and he suddenly felt a little feverish like he might just faint.

He rubbed the back of his neck and flickered his dark eyes up to hers, but it was too overwhelming to look at her straight on. Instead, he studied the blades of grass under his boots, scuffing them a little.

"Could you guys leave us alone for a minute?" he said softly, but just loud enough so that he wouldn't have to repeat himself.

Sabo flat out grinned a huge Cheshire Cat smile and Margherita covered her mouth to hide hers, "Of course!" Sabo agreed instantly, "You know what? I'm STARVING! Zeke! Let's whip up some grub!"

The Fishman nodded, smiling a little himself and the five of them boarded the ship, leaving Raion and Eevee alone for the first time in… weeks.

Silence immediately stretched tight and thin and fragile like a rotten rubber band between them. Now was his chance to tell her everything he'd been feeling and thinking for weeks. To apologize and beg her to come back, that he'd do his best to love her even though he didn't know how. He had this whole beautiful script in his head about what to say.

And his brain was refusing to make connection with his mouth. God, he was such an asshole and he didn't deserve her.

"So… look…" he started, the need so say something, anything, prominent, even just useless prepositions, "I…"

He shifted his feet slightly and swiped at some blood that dripped annoyingly down his face, his eyes locked on the grass. There were so many shades of green… where was he supposed to start? Apologize first? Insist that nothing happened with that woman the other night? Lifetimes stretched between them, minutes extended beyond their designated allotment of sixty seconds. He shifted again, his hand going from rubbing the back of his neck to gesturing in the air as if to snatch the words he needed to say and place them in his mouth.

He dared to glance at her, at those violet, expectant eyes of hers, that - albeit chopped up - wedding gown with elaborate lace on the bodice that shimmered in the sunlight, dirty and bloodied from the fight of the estate. The thought crossed his mind that if he was ever gonna marry her, he'd like her to look exactly like she did right now. Like a Pirate Princess.

Fuck him, she probably thought he was moron, standing here, stuttering like a teenager. Not that he wasn't a moron. Because he was. Baka, baka, baka.

"I'm in love with you!" he suddenly blurted. He sucked in a breath, shocked a little with himself that it came out so harshly like that, but it was like the floodgates had opened and words poured out of his mouth at and alarming rate, "I've always been in love with you, since we were thirteen fucking years old and I just didn't know it then and it didn't occur to me ever that you would leave once you were on my crew because there's always been space for you here, like… like I've been reserving it or something. And I know I'm a terrible person and I've been awful to you and I'm a lot of things I'm not proud of but I've spent the last couple of weeks in agony because you left and I fucked it up. And when I saw in the paper that you were gonna marry that _douchebag_ , I couldn't even stand it."

His breath came quick, his adrenal gland on overdrive and his left hand clicked and unclicked the swords at his hip in a rhythmic, almost calming way despite that it was a nervous gesture, "And… and I'm sorry. I'm sorry and you need to come back with us. Please," he didn't beg for much in his life, ever, really, "We need you. I… I need you and I know I"m not perfect. I'm aggressive and short tempered and jealous and dangerous and I don't know much about being a boyfriend or a husband or a lover or any of that crap, but I'll try really, _really_ hard to love you like you deserve. I can be whatever and you can keep me in line and I can make you music and you can dance. Just… come back. Please."

He paused, staring at her, then dropped his eyes and ran his fingers through his blood matted hair, yanking up a little, "But like, I understand if you don't wanna, you know. I haven't been nice to you and no one would blame you for holding me accountable," the words came out softer, a little less rushed. They hurt to say. The idea that she wouldn't come back felt like it was choking him with spindly fingers.

28s


	15. Chapter 15

Eevee's eyes widened and her mouth fell open in surprise when Raion blurted the words _I'm in love with you._ It felt like the world had suddenly stopped turning in that moment, and everything but his face faded away from her consciousness. Her heart stopped in her chest, and her breath froze in her lungs. He was confessing his feelings for her, begging her to come back, and all she could do was stare at him as her brain scrambled to understand what he was saying.

A part of her…didn't believe him. More accurately, a part of her was afraid to believe him. She wanted it to be true so powerfully, that she wondered if she could recover from it if it wasn't. Her fingers clenched into fists at her sides, hidden by the ruffles of her dress, and she felt her eyes prickle with tears that she blinked away rapidly.

"Raion…" she started, and her mind scrambled for words, a little at a loss as to what to say. She wanted to say yes, she wanted her dream, the perfect dream of living as a pirate that being on his crew had been to her. But… "I…I want to. But…Raion, you must know that I love you, that I left because it hurt," her voice cracked a little from emotion at that word, and she had to clear her voice to continue. "It hurt so much, to watch you with that woman…knowing what you did with her…I can't…I don't think I could bear that again." Her eyes dropped away from him, and she tilted her head down as she stared at the ground, her hair masking her expression. "I know your reputation…I know that you like women. It hurts so much, thinking about you sleeping with that woman like you did…seeing you kiss her right in front of me…How can I be sure that you won't just do that again? I don't think I could bear it again…"

The tears she'd tried to blink away before returned, and this time she couldn't stop them as one tear tracked down the side of her face, then dripped to the ground at her feet from her chin.

It felt like the walls were closing in on him. She wasn't gonna come back. After all that… she didn't believe him. He could feel it, her cautious hope that was drowning in disbelief. It was over. What else was there left to do?

As she spoke, his mind rapidly tried to cling to something that he could say to her, to assure her that he was honest and real. She loved him and he knew he didn't deserve it. He'd hurt her so badly, he knew that of course, but hearing her say it, hearing her voice catch around the words, feeling her heart break and the tears… it hurt. It wounded him like no weapon or physical assault ever would.

It was like breathing fumes; every time he drew breath, it scorched him. And this little noble chit who was barely half his weight did to him what five hundred marines and three Pacifistas could not.

She brought him to his knees.

Raion hit the ground hard. He couldn't stand anymore. She took everything out of him, wrung him dry. She had his heart in her bare hands and she was clenching it in her fists and his body had a visceral reaction to it. He was half convinced that if she didn't come back with him, his pirating days were over.

"I didn't…" he insisted, "I didn't fuck anyone and you have to know I'm not lying to you. I couldn't… I… she wasn't you… she wasn't you and I wanted her to be so badly and I just… I couldn't."

He swallowed hard, "Eevee, I'm so sorry," his voice was rough around the edges, pitching in the wrong places as he tried to fight down the hurt, "I'm sorry and I don't deserve a second chance from you, but I really, really want one and I promise I won't fuck up this time. I love you and I want you on my crew. Please, please come back."

He fell to his knees, and one of Eevee's hands flew up to cover her trembling lips. The pain that was clear in his voice, clear in the lines of his exhausted body, was terribly clear to Eevee. His sincerity and the passion with which he spoke hit her down to the bones. The proud, fierce Dark Prince was at his knees before her, _begging_ her for another chance.

And it wouldn't be just another chance with him…it would be the chance to get back her most treasured dream, to live the perfect life as a pirate on the perfect crew with the strongest captain…who also wanted to be her lover. Even more…he hadn't slept with that woman like she thought her had. It was like a vice had been ripped free of her heart and lungs, and breath and blood flowed more freely through her body. He'd stayed true to her, and more than anything, it was enough to convince her that he truly did love her.

How could she say no? Even the risk of potential hurt in the future if he realized, one day, that she wasn't the woman for him, that he needed to sleep with those hundreds of women to be himself…Wasn't being a pirate all about taking risks? Putting oneself in potentially life-threatening situations for the simple and complete freedom that being a pirate offers?

She wouldn't be a very good pirate if she backed down from something like this. Especially since the rewards were so great.

Eevee refused to let the Prince of Pirates be spoken down to, and she couldn't bear seeing him on his knees like that while she stood before him. So she followed him, dropping down to her knees in front of him and reaching out to grasp one of his bloodied torn hands in both of hers. Tears were now openly and silently tracking down her cheeks, leaving clean trails in the dirt and blood.

"Raion…" she whispered in a hoarse breath, and tugged his hand up to nuzzle the back of it, leaving smears of blood against her cheek. "I love you enough that I think I'd offer you a million chances, just for the chance to be with you again…And honestly, no crew, not even the famous Mugiwara Pirates, would have felt like my home…not like being with you, on your ship, surrounded by our nakama, feels like."

She dropped to her knees with him, taking his hand and rubbing it against her cheek and he hardly dared to believe her, even as the giddiness gripped him. She was gonna come back! She was gonna come back and she would give him a second chance!

He grabbed her, tugging her into him, against him, his arms around her, fingers threading through her hair, holding onto her. She fit against him perfectly, like a missing puzzle pieces, with no gaps or strange overlaps. Raion felt like he was whole again, the complete picture of who he was and who he wanted to be.

The Dark Prince. And the Pirate Princess.

He ducked his face against her shoulder, bringing them cheek to cheek. Time was inconsequential; he could have held onto her for minutes or hours, it didn't matter, but something stung at his sixth sense and Raion glanced up to the Hebi-Go.

Four heads were peering over the edge of the ship; two dark haired, one blonde and one little navy blue pixie cut. They looked like four little children, watching mom and dad excitedly.

"We have an audience…" Raion whispered and when she turned to look, all four heads disappeared below the railing.

He chuckled, "Let's get outta here before…" as if on cue, he heard alarms ring through the grove and he whirled around as Sabo called from the ship; "THE NAVY'S HERE!"

"Time to rock and roll," Raion stood and pulled Eevee to her feet, "Go, go! Get on the ship!"

On board, Raion started barking orders, though he didn't really have to because everyone was nearly there, "Sabo! Margherita! Sail! Eevee, get the rigging! Zeke! Haul anchor and Titus, set our heading!"

"Where, senchou?"

He laughed, "I don't care! Get us the hell outta here before the Navy blows up my ship!"

Raion slapped the button to charge the Coup de Burst as warships appeared around the west side of the island, "30 seconds!" he hollered. There was the blast of cannon fire and three black hunks of steel came barreling towards the Hebi. Raion jumped up, sliced them in mid-air where they blew up and landed harmlessly in the ocean. He hit the deck and his hair was sticking up straight with soot and gunpowder from the explosion.

"Cute, senchou," Sabo laughed.

"Hang on tight!" Titus shouted and Raion grabbed Eevee with one hand and grabbed the mast with the other as Titus yanked the lever down. A flash of bright light and the Hebi-Go shot away from the archipelago with the speed of a hundred engines, leaving the marines and the islands in their dust.

An hour later, and Eevee found herself alone with Raion in his bathroom. He was the last one that needed her medical attention, because he'd refused any help until the rest of the crew had been seen to first. Luckily, no one had any serious injuries, and once they got a little further away from the island, everyone was going to be able to get some much needed sleep.

None who needed it more than their captain, though.

When she'd finally come to tend his wounds, she'd found him passed out over his drafting table, still in the clothes from the island and with blood all over him. Some of his wounds were still leaking blood, and the barely-started-map lying beneath him was now smeared in red.

She'd been loath to wake him when he was clearly exhausted down to his bones, but he needed his wounds tended do and he would sleep much better in a bed anyways.

"I can't believe that you took all of those soldiers and the pacifistas out on your own," she murmured as she wiped blood off of his brow with a cloth that was already dyed red from the other times she'd used it to wipe at the blood coating much of his body. Thankfully, not all of it was his, or he'd be in a lot worse shape. "It was very impressive…and you looked absolutely devastating, surrounded by all of your defeated enemies." She smiled and chuckled a little, removing the cloth from his face, satisfied that all of the blood had finally been removed.

Raion was sitting on a stool in the middle of the room, and Eevee knelt between his knees as she worked. "I'm going to need to stitch your head wound back up too…" she added, glancing down at his features. His eyes were closed, but she could tell he wasn't sleeping. A ghost of a smile flickered over her lips, and she leaned forward to brush her lips against his. "Then you should take a shower and get some sleep…You look like you haven't slept in days, senchou," she murmured, her voice gentle and pitched slightly lower when she spoke his title, as if she couldn't help but remember all the times she'd called him that in completely intimate situations.

He was absolutely exhausted and strangely invigorated, which could've had something to do with the fact that Eevee was very close in his business.

He sat on the stool in the middle of the bathroom, naked save his boxer shorts, while she cleaned him up and bandaged his bleeding ass. It didn't matter though, really, everything else paled in comparison to her just _being_ here with him. She could have told him she was amputating his left limbs and he probably would've been okay with it.

She was back. The ship, the crew, it breathed again. Margherita wasn't so mulish. Zeke's food tasted better. Titus had rearranged the girl's dorm for them. Sabo had returned to his spirited self. It was like everyone thrived just from her presence, as if she were the green thumb that made them grow best.

"I've had a lot of training…" he replied softly. His eyes were closed, obscuring his sense of sight which heightened his other senses. Mainly touch. His body craved her touch, "And I wasn't about to let anyone stand in my way of getting you back."

Suddenly, he felt her mouth brush against his and he sucked in a little breath and his eyes snapped open to look at her. He hadn't kissed her in weeks. She was smirking at him, looking sinful in shorts and a tee shirt with her long hair pulled out of her face. Hell, she could've been wearing a paper bag and she would've made it look good.

"Only if you shower with me…" he replied, his voice rumbly. The way she said _senchou_ flowed over him like warm molasses and he snaked his hand around the back of her head and pulled her down to kiss him again, "… and sleep with me…" he said against her mouth, "In fact, just don't ever leave, that'd be cool too."

He released her and his breath was quickened, "Can we just skip to the shower right now?" he asked, eyes dark.

A chuckle escaped her lips, bracing her hands against his thighs as he held her head to kiss her. His scent, tinged with the coppery tang of blood and gun-powder, filled her nostrils, and her eyes slid shut at the sheer, quiet ecstasy she felt at just being able to touch him again, smell him again…listen to the rumbling of his voice. She'd tried convincing herself, for the past several weeks, that she didn't miss him, but she knew now she'd been lying to herself.

She'd missed him terribly, especially this teasing, playful side of him that seemed reserved specially for her.

"I suppose it would be okay to prolong stitching you up for a little longer…and it might do your wounds some good to get a good wash," she told him in a slow voice, opening her eyes again as he released her. Looking up into his face, the sudden lust she saw in his dark, hooded eyes stole her breath, and speed up her heart rate. Instant warmth spread through her body, reacting to the implications he was making.

Using his thighs for leverage, she pushed herself up to her feet. Excitement and anticipation made her fingers shake a little as she turned her back to him and walked over to the shower. "Though, showering in your condition…with wounds that aren't stitched up yet…There's definitely a risk involved. It's my duty, as your doctor, to accompany you in the shower to help you to reduce the amount of stress you put on your damaged body. It's for your safety, after all," she told him over her shoulder, but her voice was anything but clinical.

With her back still to him, she reached down and drew her shirt up and off, and tossed it to the side. Her bra was next, and then her shorts and panties. When she was completely nude, she turned back to him, the steam from the shower starting to curl like tendrils around her body. Finally, she reached up and released her hair from the restraint that held it from her face, and the cascades of auburn locks fell around her shoulders and breasts.

Before becoming a pirate, she would never have been bold enough to do something like this. But because of him, she'd grown into a more confident, empowered woman. A pirate wasn't afraid of anything, after all, and she'd come so far from the modest, gentle lady she was.

"Shall I help you in, senchou?" she offered, pulling open the door to the shower as she turned her eyes back to him with a small smirk.

He'd once heard someone say, probably Franky-oji, that pretty girls had a way of making smart boys go stupid. When she pushed away from him and sashayed over to the shower to turn it on, her voice light and teasing, he felt himself go stupid.

"Of course… safety first…" he replied slowly, his brain having a hard time creating sentences, "Yes, doctor's orders… oh fuck…"

She took off all her clothes and Raion ground his teeth against his fist, watching her. When had his sweet little noble lady turned into such a seductress? He'd ruined her, corrupted her innocence. Oh, but it was so good. She wasn't a little noble girl anymore, for sure. She was a pirate.

"I'mma fuck you in that shower, you know that, right?" he told her, offering her a fair bit of warning before he stood and stripped out of his boxers. Steam filled the room, creating a balm in the air that was just as hot outside as he felt on the inside.

Then, he was against her, skin to skin, kissing her mouth, his hands caressing her body. He shoved her back into the shower, under the hot spray and slammed the door shut behind him. Water cascaded over his shoulders, stinging the wounds that littered his body, but that was alright, because it was soothed by her and her mouth and her hands and soft curves under his palms.

He chased droplets of water down her neck and across her collarbone with his mouth, his tongue swirling over her skin, followed closely by his hands. He closed his lips over one taut nipple while his hand wasted little time trailing over her ribs and stomach to stroke her heat.

"Holy fuck, I've missed you…" he said, his voice muffled by her breast.

Heat shot between her legs when he warned her about what he planned to do with her in the shower, and her breathing picked up a pace and her eyes dilated as she watched him stand and strip the last of his clothing off. His body was so chiseled and his expression was a dark promise of pleasure that she could do nothing but stand there, wanting him, as he approached her.

He'd been exhausted minutes before, but now there was a renewed sense of energy swirling around him, and she knew it was her haki detecting the sharp arousal she sensed from him. He shoved her back into the shower, and her mouth opened to protest, telling him to take it easy lest he hurt himself, but then his lips were all over her, and any words died in her mouth, replaced by a moan of pleasure.

Her head fell back against the wall of the shower, and her fingers went to his shoulders, eager to touch him as his lips wrecked havoc on her body. When his tongue swirled around the peak of her breast and his lips tugged at her nipple, her fingernails dug into his shoulders and a gasp slipped from her mouth.

His words reached her ears but she became instantly unable to respond completely when his fingers stroked her heat, and her knees almost gave out from the pleasure that rocked up her spine. It had been so long…her core pulsed with desperate desire, and her hips rocked impatiently against his hand as her breathing rose to panting.

"I've dreamed…about being with you again…like this," she said huskily, her eyes slitting open as the fingers of one hand raked through his hair, her nails dragging against his scalp, while her other hand continued to grip his shoulder for support.

Her hand in his hair, tugging at his scalp was sublime and a touch painful as the roots yanked on the sensitive or damaged skin. But the pain was good, made him feel alive.

His mouth came back up and his kissed her hard, his tongue sweeping into her mouth to taste her. God, kissing her. Never mind the sex, this was the best part. Kissing was so much more intimate than just sex. To kiss, make out, there was a rhythm that was negotiated in it. She kissed perfectly.

"Oh ya?" he pulled back with a grin, "What'd you dream about? This?" he slipped a single finger inside her while his thumb teased the top of her sex. But he didn't stay like that too long. Instead, he slowly released her and popped her off her feet so that her legs were around his hips and his cock brushed against her sex, "Or this?"

And then he was inside her and he groaned, dropping his face into the crook of her shoulder. He gave her a heartbeat or three to adjust before setting up an easy pace and he danced his mouth over her neck, tasting the water. He could feel her arousal, the way it pulsed through her and fueled his. He missed this, no, he missed _her._ No one else amped him up like this, no one else made him feel like he couldn't catch his breath in a room full of oxygen.

Raion kissed her mouth again, his hips thrusting into her, faster, more demanding until he had to tear his mouth away from hers. Blood and tap water ran down his face in rivulets; he could taste the sharp coppery flavor on his lips.

"Call me _senchou_ ," he rumbled, tracing his thumb over her mouth, "Say it loud as you come for me."

She moaned loudly when he pushed himself insider her, nails digging deeper into his flesh as her head fell back against the shower tile. She could felt her body squeezing him for more, milking his shaft for that exquisite friction as he pumped in and out of her. "Raion…" she gasped his name, unable to do much more than hang on for the ride. She was so strung up and turned on from weeks without him that it wasn't taking much to bring her flush against the edge.

"S-s- _senchou—"_ she stuttered and cried as he increased the pace, thrusting into her powerfully, and sending her careening over that edge. Her body exploded with pleasure, clamping down tightly around him as her hips bucked and her back arched sharply. Her voice was followed by another low moan as the waves of pleasure went on and on.

When it finally ebbed, she went completely limp against him, knowing that if he let go, she'd hit the ground hard, because she had utterly no strength left in her after he'd wrung such a powerful orgasm from her. Her breathing came hard and her heart was threatening to burst out of her chest. Her fingers scrabbled weakly against his shoulder blades and her eyes refused to open, her head tilted back against the shower wall. "Oh…my…" she managed to get out in a strangled whisper. "You're…better than any dream," she added with a half smile.

It was quick and dirty. Her fingernails in his shoulders, the way her voice pitched around his name, the steamy environment, all combined to send wave after wave of hot flush over his body as he fucked her hard against the shower wall. Then she came and it was that that set him off, barreling him towards an explosive orgasm that no amount of creative imagination and his right hand could replicate.

The quiet that followed was singly the best silence he'd ever heard. The shower beating down on him, splashing around his feet, labored breathing. She whispered her comment, her smile teasing him and he let out a breathy chuckle, "Damn right, I'm better than a dream," he replied. Very carefully, he let her feet touch the bottom of the shower, but he didn't let go of her right away.

Now that his sexual adrenaline was started to ebb slightly, it still felt so surreal that she was here with him. He'd spent weeks alone, imagining every scenario possible of her return, even hypothetically working himself into a slight panic of her not returning. And now she was here and they were this… exclusive "thing". If someone had told him a month ago that he'd be some chick's boyfriend, he would have laughed in their face.

He was kinda like her boyfriend now and it kinda freaked his shit right out still to think about it. Being "committed" kinda freaked him out a little, but he wanted Eevee, didn't ever want anyone else and if that's what it meant to be a "boyfriend", well, he supposed he'd grow into the title.

"You okay?" he asked her, tapping under her chin lightly and then rubbing his nose against hers, "If you don't mind smelling like a boy, I'll wash your hair and stuff. Then you'll sleep in the bed with me, right?" for some reason, he felt very insecure over her. Like he was carefully trying to piece together the broken shards of glass that made up their delicate relationship before he fucked it up. One wrong move would send the whole thing crumbling apart in his hands.

Caged against the shower wall by his body, Eevee had to tilt her head back to meet his eyes. As he tapped her under her chin, a smile flickered over her lips, and a contented sigh escaped her. "I am the happiest woman in the world right now, my dearest senchou," she told him, finally regaining her strength enough to reach out her hands and splay them across his rigid abs. It felt so good, just to touch him…She felt certain she wouldn't want to let him go for quite some time.

Slowly, she skirted her hands around to his sides until they rested lightly over his hips, creating a link between them. "I'm a pirate now, for good…I don't mind smelling like a boy. You smell really good anyways, so I definitely don't mind smelling like you," she told him with a giggle, and rocked forward onto her toes to lean up and brush her lips lightly against his.

The moment felt somewhat surreal, after the past several weeks feeling like a caged tiger. She was truly free to live the dream she'd wanted since her youth, and she would be living it next to the Prince of all Pirates. There was, truly, no place she'd rather be. All of the pain, fear, hard work, blood, sweat, and tears had been worth it, to arrive where she was now, her future shinning bright and blissfully, completely…optional.

"I don't think I could make it to my bed after what you just did to me, so I would be more than happy to share yours," she told him with a smile as she fell back against the shower wall. One of her hands abandoned its hold of his hip and traveled up his stomach and to his chest, stopping over his heart. "Raion…I truly…love you very much. You've given me my dream, and so much more…sleeping next to you is the icing on the cake, and as a former noble and all…I do so enjoy my cake." Her smile spread into a full-on grin, and her fingers curled against his chest.

She was so much better at talking and forming her words than he could ever hope to be. You'd think with how intelligent he was, how easy it was for him to smooth-talk his way around and out of just about any trouble, that he'd be able to form a few coherent words about his feelings.

No. No way. He supposed he was more of a … _physical_ being.

He threaded his fingers through hers where her hand was rested against his pec, over his heart, feeling like she was dragging out of his chest and squeezing it tight. He was the luckiest son of a bitch alive. He still didn't feel like he deserved an ounce of her love, but here she was. She said yes to staying on the crew, being with him, had even fallen in love with him despite the fuck up he was. Despite him. He couldn't get out of his own way to love her and yet, she did it for him.

He prayed she understood things that he couldn't say to her, that he didn't have language or security to say. Things that he hoped would flow easier from him the more secure he felt in holding onto her.

Her grin made him smile. What a little sass she was becoming. He'd fucked her in more ways than one, didn't he?

Raion kissed that little sass mouth, his hands cupping either side of her face. He tipped her head just enough so that he could kiss her harder like he cold pour his emotions out of him and into her so she would get him. Then, he tore his mouth away from hers and hugged her, pulling her into him, naked skin against naked skin and all the tension fell out of his shoulders. She was a physical necessity to him.

"I'm so sorry…" he whispered. He pulled back from her, "Let's get clean, then into bed."

An hour later, clean, showered, stitched and bandaged, they laid in his bed, warm under the covers. Eevee was pillowed against his chest and he'd brushed all her hair over her shoulders and was tracing his fingertips up and down her naked spine. Unconsciously, he played music patterns against her skin. It was calm and quiet.

He cocked his head slightly to the side to try to get a glimpse of her face at this angle, "Evelyn," he whispered, "I love you, you know that, right?"

Eevee was almost asleep when his whispered words reached her ears. He used her full name, and she tilted her head so that she could look up at him. Their eyes met, and her breath was stolen for a moment by the pure emotion she saw in the dark depths of his gaze. The sincerity was written all over his features, twisting her heart up in a knot of happiness.

Did she know, that he loved her? The question made her pause, but not for long.

Of course he loved her. A part of her he said he'd been in love with her since they were children, and a part of her had known that. She'd always known that an unbreakable bond had been forged between them that wonderful summer she'd spent, running free with him on that little island, learning things she never would have learned if not for him. He'd been her first kiss, he'd been the courage she'd needed to truly commit to her dream. Not only that…she'd always known, from the moment she'd met him, that he was a boy, a man, of his word. And when he'd promised to help her with her dream…he'd meant it. An eternal bond, one wrapped up in life-dreams, had been created in that moment. She'd never forget him, and he never forgot her.

He might not be the most eloquent with words, and he had a bad temper, and he made mistakes…but through it all, now that she was lying here, with him, safe and happy…He'd loved her all along, even when he'd been breaking her heart in two. She was eternally grateful that he'd come to his senses before it was too late.

She smiled up at him, and tightened her arms around his torso as she rested her cheek back on his chest and snuggled her body a little closer. "Yes, I know," she whispered back. "Even without the words, I know." She shifted her head a little to brush her lips against his chest, then let out a contented sigh as she drifted closer to sleep, exhaustion, and pure bliss, pulling heavily at her mind.

 _A week and some change after the incident at Sabaody:_

It was warm, fresh day on the Grand Line. One of those rare days of perfection, where the sun was just the right warmth, the breeze was just the right temperature and not a single cloud dotted the sky. Raion was dozing on the deck with Eevee, his head in her lap, a book open against his chest that he'd been reading previously. Above him, he could hear her labeling vials, moving them from one side of her to the other, her movements predictable and methodical. Occasionally, she'd strike up a conversation with Margherita, who was right near her, tinkering with some of the Pacifista parts she'd pillaged. Somewhere over by the helm, he could hear the rhythmic hammering of construction as Titus worked on some minor repairs to the ship. Zeke was down in the cargo hold, likely taking inventory for their food supplies. Sabo was flipping through the paper that had just arrived not too long ago by News Coo.

It was so blissfully normal. He didn't want for anything different at this very moment.

"Hey!" Sabo exclaimed suddenly, "HEY! We made the PAPER!"

"What?" Raion yawned, lifting his head as Sabo shifted from his stomach to his bottom excitedly.

"Ya!" the vice-captain laughed, "Ya, check it out, listen! _On the 20th of August, the wedding of Burbank-Montagu was interrupted by none other than the notorious Black Mamba Pirates, headed by captain Monkey D. Raion, the legacy of the Pirate King. Their small five-man crew successfully infiltrated the Burbank Estate and is responsible for wiping out nearly a thousand Marine soldiers, five Pacifistas and hundreds of personal guards of the Montagu family. Sources say the coup was staged by the bride herself, Burbank Evelyn, who is now reported to have joined the Black Mambas as the crew_ _'s doctor._ "

"I did no such thing!" Eevee tutted, offended. Raion chuckled and closed his eyes again. She ran her fingers through his dark hair over his forehead.

"That's it?" Margherita complained, "That one lousy little article? C'mon now! We cleaned house!"

"Wait!" Sabo held up his hand, then a slow, maniacal laugh bubbled out of him, "Oh man, guys… we have new bounties."

"WHAT?" Raion sat up fast this time and ground the heels of his hands into his eyes. Bounties? Hells ya! That was the best part about being a pirate; finding out how badly you scared the World Government.

"Ya. Titus, Zeke! Get over here!" Sabo called excitedly.

Within moments, the two fish fishman brothers lumbered into sight. They leaned against the mast pole.

"Alright!" the vice-captain ruffled the paper dramatically, putting on his best announcer's voice. Raion grinned. "For starters, for decimating five hundred marine soldiers and three Pacifistas _single-handedly_ , our fearless leader, the "Dark Prince" Monkey D. Raion at 400 million beris!"

Raion threw his fists into the air triumphantly as his cremates clapped. 400 million beris! Incredible! He had to have one of the highest bounties in the world now, right up there with Rouge and several of the Straw Hat Pirates themselves!

"Next, oh, this is a good one!" Sabo laughed, "For holding off a few hundred marine soldiers and two, count them, TWO! Pacifistas while his captain rescued his lady from the brutish hands of her almost-to-be noble husband, "First Mate" Sabo at 350 million beris!"

He stood and bowed repeatedly to the clapping that surrounded him, sending Margherita into giggles before she demanded he continue, her body leaning forward anxiously.

"Up next!" he cleared his throat, "For destroying a chapel full of guards with her epic Devil Fruit abilities, we have "Viper Bite" Laroack Margherita at 150 million beris!"

"Fuck yes! Finally! Over a hundred million!" she exclaimed, falling back and laying flat out on the deck, her two middle fingers raised to the sky.

"Yay, Margherita-chan!" Eevee cheered. The little snake girl grinned wildly.

"Okay!" Sabo continued loudly, then he made a face and glanced at the twins, "Aww… they screwed up your pictures again…" he complained. Both fishmen rolled their eyes and shrugged and Sabo continued, "Well, anyway! For choking the entrance of the manor and keeping the marines at bay with impressive displays of Fishman Karate, we have the "Tiger Twins" Titus and Zeke at a whopping 200 million beris a piece!"

More clapping. Raion could've sworn that Titus's cheeks were a little flushed. Zeke just raised a hand in quiet acknowledgment.

"That was an epic turnout!" Margherita sighed, picking up a part and unscrewing something on it, "I love getting new bounties."

"Now, hang on a second…" Sabo grinned slyly, "There's one more…"

Behind him, Eevee gasped and Raion turned around to glance at her with a full Cheshire Cat grin. Her hands were over her mouth and her violet eyes were wide as saucers.

"For 'staging' the coup," he started, waggling his brows at Eevee, "that rained hell on her very own wedding, for her multiple escape attempts using a medley of draughts AND for successfully taking down quite a few marines by herself… collecting her VERY FIRST BOUNTY! Drum roll, please!"

Everyone drummed their hands against the wooden deck as Eevee covered her face and Sabo announced, "The Pirate Princess, Burbank Eevee at 50 million beris!"

The whooping and cheering was loud for only just a few people and Raion pulled her hands away from her face, "50 million! That's great! That was my first bounty too!"

"You're on par with the _pirate prince!_ " Margherita cheered.

"A true pirate now," Titus chuckled. Zeke nodded approvingly.

"I can't…" she whispered, "I'm so happy…"

"Let's celebrate!" Margherita insisted, "ZEKE! Break out some drinks and grub!"

"Ya!" Sabo agreed, folding up the paper and leaving it on the deck and linking arms with Margherita, "Let's party!"

The four of them headed up the galley, talking loudly about bounties, leaving Raion and Eevee alone for a minute on the deck. He tugged her hand away from her face and kissed her, "You have a bounty!" he grinned.

"I have a bounty…" she repeated back in a whisper, like she was trying out the sound of the words, "A real bounty…"

"And a poster…" he leaned back and grabbed the paper, shaking it out until all their bounty posters fell out of the pages. He picked up hers and handed it to her, "You can add it to your shoebox now."

It was her picture from the raid, with her wedding dress cropped at the knees and her makeup smeared down one side of her face. Her hairstyle survived somewhat, but wisps of hair fell around her face wildly. The Pirate Princess, Burbank Eevee, wanted dead or alive: 50 Million Beris.

He watched her as she stared at it like she couldn't believe it was her face. Then she scrunched it in her hand and flung her arms around his shoulders. He laughed as he caught her, "This is everything I've ever wanted…" she said near his ear, "I'm a real pirate."

"You've always been a real pirate," he corrected her, "Now, everyone knows it." he pulled back and stood and pulled her to her feet, "Come on. Let's go drink and celebrate and party!" he linked his arm around her shoulders and she leaned into him, her arm going around his waist as they headed for the galley. The Dark Prince… and his Pirate Princess.

Page 14 of 14


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